An Eye For Evil
by BookwormBudgie
Summary: A new mission. A new threat. One that could wipe out the entirety of Russia and possibly the rest of the world. Bring in Natasha Romanoff and Maria Hill and everything should be fine, right? Well... Involves everyone on the team with pairings of BlackHill, HuntingBird and Fitzsimmons. Rated T for some violence and profanity. Previously called A threat from the past. On Hiatus.
1. The Mission

Chapter 1 – The Mission.

* * *

Coulson sighed. For what felt like the billionth time that day. He had just received another undercover mission that required some very talented undercover and manipulation skills. Coulson knew May had the ability to do some incredible acting but this mission needed something more. Something in the shape of Black Widow.

* * *

The team – Skye, Fitz, Simmons, Lance, Bobbi, Mack and May – had gathered, waiting for Coulson's appearance. They didn't wait much longer as Coulson approached with a file in his hands. He didn't waste any time and began to explain,

"Another undercover mission has been assigned to us. This time, it's more serious and we need to work as a team instead of individuals. We are all going undercover as well as an old…friend of mine who you will all meet soon enough. We are going to Russia," Coulson smiled a very small smile at everyone's reactions. They hadn't been there before, "Get all you need for 3 weeks onto the Bus and wheels up in 30."

Coulson walked away, back to his office and he could feel May following him closely. As soon as he stepped inside the office, the door shut behind him.

"What's the problem, Mel?" Even though he had a fair idea. He turned to see Melinda May's hard gaze on him. She managed to always figure his plan B out before he'd even finished plan A and this was one of those times.

"You're getting Romanoff in. The mission is in Russia and it's undercover. What are you going to tell me next, that it involves a place where they train young people into assassins, brainwashing them to kill innocent people?" May said, with a different harshness in her voice than usual.

Coulson chose to ignore the unusual tone and avoided answering the question, "I never told you anything."

May clocked onto what he was doing within a nanosecond, "Phil, don't bring Romanoff into this. It won't be good for her," May paused, her anger beginning to fade into something else that Coulson couldn't quite understand, "Please."

With that, May left the office and Coulson realised the emotion in May's eyes was concern and care. Melinda May knew a lot more than most people about what Black Widow had been through and it showed. Phil Coulson had a decision to make. Recruit Black Widow and risk her mentality or leave the mission to someone unable to empathise and risk S.H.I.E.L.D's cover being blown. Again.

Picking up the phone as he sat at his desk, Coulson dialled and waited. On the second dial the receiver picked up, "Hello."

"I need a favour."

* * *

Maria Hill had just finished freshening up in her hotel room shower when she received a message on her phone. It was from an unknown number and all it read was,

In the air at 4 – C

Maria knew what she needed to do and sighed,

"Phil Coulson will be the death of me."

* * *

A very short chapter, yes. The first instalment is going to be but don't worry, it won't be long until the next.

Review if you can.


	2. Moving on and Remembering

Chapter 2 – Moving on and Remembering.

Enjoy.

* * *

Natasha Romanoff was tired. After a very physically demanding mission all she wanted to do was sleep forever. But no, Clint Barton was standing in the way of that. As soon as Natasha stepped one foot into their apartment she was hounded,

"Tasha, you're back," He started, "You didn't call after that first day, did something happen?"

There was a kindness in his voice that almost tricked Natasha into trusting his words to be innocent every time, but every time she knew it was an act to cover the fact that Clint didn't trust her. With a sigh, she collapsed onto a chair and began the conversation that was had after all the missions. The 'I love you and everything but I don't trust you so tell me every last detail about the mission' conversation.

"Clint, it was 3 days. That's all," Natasha rested her eyes for the first time for 3 days and it felt like heaven, "It was a busy mission and I had no time. Sorry."

"That apology wasn't very heartfelt, Tasha. Just one quick message would be appreciated." Clint muttered, bitterly. Natasha's eyes shot open and her glare at Clint was one that could kill,

"To be quite honest, I'm not sure why I should apologise in the first place. Is there no trust here whatsoever anymore? This thing we have going on here, it's been going on to long and…" Natasha trailed as her voice broke slightly, almost fearful of what she wanted to say. Clint stared. There was a long silence.

"And what?" Clint finally spoke. Natasha looked away and back, dead into Clint's eyes this time. She opened her mouth to speak but there was an interruption. Natasha's phone rang. She reached into her pocket and pulled it out and answered without looking at the caller ID,

"Hello." She stated.

"I need a favour." A voice came through that was familiar to Natasha's ears.

"Oh really? What is it?" Natasha asked. She could feel Clint's eyes on her and hear the cogs in his brain turning and producing stupid ideas about what she and the other person could be talking about.

"An undercover mission. I need you at C2 in 8 hours and I will explain more there. Up for it?" The man asked, even though only one answer would be accepted.

"I'll be working for S.H.I.E.L.D?" Natasha answered the question with another, weary of the thought of getting involved with S.H.I.E.L.D so closely again.

"Of course."

Thinking for another few moments and sparing a glance towards Clint, his eyes _still_ fixed on her like the Hawkeye he was. Natasha needed a break, she was tired, _so_ tired but her job pushed her to limits some people will never reach and this must be one of those pushes.

"I'm in."

Natasha put the phone down and looked at Clint again, "Where were we?"

Clint's eyes narrowed, "You tell me."

A part of Natasha's heart was screaming to stay with Clint, one more chance, and the thought of leaving him was causing a physical pain in her heart. But the other part of her heart was saying she needs to get away before it breaks her completely. Grabbing her one bag, Natasha stood,

"Clint, we can't do this anymore. It's hurting me and it's most likely hurting you too. I'm going on an undercover mission with S.H.I.E.L.D and I won't be coming back here. Not for a long time anyway," She blinked back the tears that were building in her eyes – there was no reason for the tears, the decision was right for both of their sanity's, "Goodbye, Clint. Find someone you can trust."

The archer stood. He approached her and took her hand,

"Promise me you won't get hurt out there. I might not trust you but I really do care. So promise me that, Tasha."

Natasha looked down at their hands and replied, "Nothing goes wrong on my watch, Hawkeye."

And with that, Natasha Romanoff was gone and Black Widow had stepped out into the night, leaving Clint alone.

* * *

On the bus, Bobbi was in deep thought about this undercover mission. Coulson hadn't told the team about all the details but had assigned the jobs and Bobbi was informed she was going to be partnered with May and Coulson's mystery friend that he's bringing in. Bobbi couldn't help but worry about going to Russia. She hadn't been there since… too long now. It was the last time she'd seen Clint and Natasha and her friendship with Natasha had gone south. Bobbi let her head fall into her hands in frustration.

"Something bothering you?" That _annoying_ but so caring British voice made Bobbi raise her head to look at Lance who sat beside her.

"No, I'm fine." She replied, unconvincingly as Lance picked up on the lie straight away. He sat back and put his feet on the wooden table in front of them,

"You can't lie to me and you know it. Talk to me, Bob." Lance said in a voice that Bobbi could trust. This time, anyway,

"Just the mission. I'm thinking about last time I was in Russia. It wasn't great." She said, honestly. She didn't want to empty her heart out to Lance, he would probably make fun of her if she did that.

"Don't worry about it. You were with HYDRA for so long, undercover isn't the problem for you. What's the situation with Russia?" Lance questioned. He was curious of what happened with Bobbi between leaving him and joining HYDRA and by the sounds of it, something significant happened.

"Nothing." Was her blunt answer. The two stared each other down for a minute, daring the other person to speak but nothing was said.

"Nothing to worry your little head about, Hunter. It could explode or something, you know? Can't be too careful, can we?" Bobbi spoke and all the seriousness was gone then. Lance frowned slightly at the change of subject and then even more when he realised what she had said. The demonic hell beast had arrived.

"Um, ouch. My head is not small, neither is my brain thank you very much." He spoke defensively, holding his head as if doubting that his head was actually not small.

"Well, I am pretty surprised that you can fit your entire ego in there so maybe it's a little bigger than I first thought." Bobbi said as if she'd thought about it thoroughly. She stood up to leave,

"I have to speak to May so I suggest you talk to someone else about the size of your _small_ head," She turned and smiled at her ex, "Bye, Hunter."

By the time Lance had snapped into reality, Bobbi was gone. Leaving him to mutter to himself,

"My head really isn't small, is it?"

* * *

Thank you for reading, and the follows, favourites and reviews. Means a lot.

This will probably have Huntingbird, BlackHill and maybe Fitzsimmons but I'm really not one to write much on romance.

Feedback means improvement. Review if you can.


	3. First dilemma and Second arrival

Chapter 3 – First dilemma and Second arrival

Thanks for the reviews and guest reviews, they really show that people have interest in this.

Enjoy.

* * *

May walked into the café, C2, and took a seat by a window in view of the entrance and everyone in the café. She observed that there was only 7 other people in the café at this time, 7.05am. There was one man reading the paper, dressed in a suit, looked ready to work as a businessman somewhere in an office. Two women were by the counter deciding what to drink and looked innocent enough in comparison to the man who put May's guard up high. It wasn't very busy outside, only a couple of cars parked up and the odd person walking by now and then. Another 19 minutes she waited until the woman she wanted to meet walked through the entrance and took her seat in front of May once she had seen her. May's eyebrows rose,

"Took your time." She murmured, not wanting anyone else to hear their conversation. Hydra was everywhere.

The woman had sunglasses on, not unlike May's, and wore a dark grey hoodie and black jeans. It looked a little too suspicious in May's opinion and she would ask about it later but not now because there were ears everywhere, listening to everything.

"I got caught up in a little traffic." The woman said, truth was that she had walked from the bar she had stayed in all night, her delay being a group of men that had followed her from there. A little detour and that problem was solved.

"Of course." Those two words were overused by agents. It was a simple phrase that didn't reveal any emotions or information that the speaker could be hiding. Hopefully, the woman wouldn't pick up on the fact that May wasn't believing a word that came out of her mouth, "It's been a while. Too long."

A chuckle escaped the lips of May's companion. It sounded dull and had no humour to it at all.

May decided this meeting had to get moving quicker when the man she had first spotted in the café started talking, to himself it would look like to everyone else, but May noticed the piece in his ear and the flicker of his eyes towards the pair sitting by the window. May knew better. She knew HYDRA when she saw it. And it was here now.

"I think we should take a walk." May suggested. The other woman nodded, understanding the situation. The two stood and walked out of the café only casting a half second glance towards the man who was hiding his face behind the newspaper. The second the two women stepped outside the café, all hell broke loose.

One man grabbed May who slammed him into a parked car, unconscious. Another two came at her from either side, the left one she kicked square in the face and the right putting up more of a fight. Meanwhile, the other woman was being approached by 4 men at once – although that was no trouble. She quickly winded one with a kick to the gut and grabbed another in a choke hold and head-butted the one that came up behind her, leaving one man standing. Dropping the choke hold on the now unconscious man who fell to the floor with a thud, she advanced on the last man. What she didn't notice was the winded guy who had grabbed a Taser and from 3 feet away, shot her. Her body crumpled to the ground, twitching. For one second, the men thought they had won, and didn't see May come flying in with a kick round the back of Taser man and a punch to the jaw for the other.

May knelt beside her companion who was still twitching from the effects of the Taser. Her hood had come down during the fight and revealed her dyed red hair for the first time that morning, her face was contorted but no sound was made.

"Romanoff, we have to keep moving," May used the name for the first time also, now HYDRA was down they could talk more openly, "The Bus isn't that far away."

Natasha Romanoff fought the shakes and breathed deeply. With the help of May, she stood and they made their way towards where the Bus was going to be,

"This better be worth it." Natasha grumbled as her side began to ache from where she fell.

May could only nod. She knew what this mission was about and couldn't promise if it was going to be worth getting tasered on the first day or not.

* * *

May got herself and Natasha onto the Bus where Coulson greeted them and the three agents went to his office. Natasha was still unhappy about the HYDRA attack and could only just feel the effects starting to wear off now.

"I'm glad you could make it, Agent Romanoff." Coulson started as he shut his office door, looking around to re-familiarise himself with it compared to the one at the playground.

"So am I." Natasha muttered as she helped herself to a seat, May stayed standing.

"Sorry about that first encounter, it wasn't ideal but-"

"I'll get over it, Phil. Tell me about the mission, why do you need me?" Natasha interrupted. Coulson and May exchanged a look that Natasha caught but didn't question. She trusted May to tell her everything that mattered.

"Actually, we're still waiting on another person to arrive so you'll have to wait. You'll be following my orders from now, Agent Romanoff. I trust you not to let me down." Coulson finished. He sat behind his desk and started going through some pieces of paper, signalling that he was done talking now.

Natasha frowned, unimpressed that she'd have to follow orders. She never followed orders, even when she worked under director Fury, there was a plan but she'd do it her way. She sighed, knowing this wasn't going to be easy. She left the room and walked down the spiral staircase and found herself standing next to the vehicles. The lab was on her right so she entered it but no one was there. Looking around, it was pretty unused and wondered when the last time someone worked in here was. Natasha kept walking and found herself in a lounge area. There were people here, she noticed and thought she should introduce herself,

"Hi," She stated simply. Two men looked up from their conversation and one she recognised straight away, "Hunter? Lance Hunter?"

"Romanoff?" Lance looked bewildered, first his hell-woman ex-wife shows up, now her best friend is here, "What on earth are you doing here?"

"Good to see you too." Natasha said with an annoyed tone.

"That's not what I meant. I'm just shocked, that's all." Lance quickly corrected himself. His friend sat in silence as they greeted one another but finally spoke,

"How do you know each other?" He asked, surprising Natasha with his accent. He seemed the nervous type and not the kind to be an agent. Lance spoke,

"Bobbi's friend, Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow. Really big in the whole spy world. Worked with the likes of Captain America, Thor, Iron Man-"

"Alright Hunter, I really don't need your big introduction. Who's your friend?" Natasha cut him off with a roll of her eyes. Also trying to swerve away from any topic of conversation that may involve Bobbi and her.

"This is Fitz. The scientist." Lance said, simply. Fitz looked slightly irritated at the small introduction in comparison to Natasha's. Natasha looked sceptical,

"Fitz…the scientist…?" She double-checked.

"Well, yes, I am a scientist along with my, my friend Jemma…Simmons. Most people call her Simmons. I call her Jemma though because, well, I guess I just prefer it…" Fitz trailed off.

Natasha became amused by the whole situation as Fitz became more awkward and rambled on, "Okay, scientist. I get it."

During their conversation – if you could call it that – the trio hadn't noticed another person enter the lounge area. They got closer until eventually she was in clear view of them. Lance saw her and smiled,

"Hey, Bob. Look who's here-"

Lance was cut off for the second time but by Bobbi, "I can see who's here. I want to know why."

Bobbi had an anger in her eyes that Lance hadn't seen for so long it was a real shock when he saw it instead of her usual playful look. At least that's what was in her eyes when he looked at her. Looking at Natasha, he saw anger in her eyes too, but also another emotion, hurt maybe? It was all too complicated for him.

"I'm helping on the mission." Natasha answered plainly. Bobbi's eyes widened,

"You? But…" Bobbi stopped herself.

"But what?" Natasha snapped. She was confused, tired and now quite pissed off.

Bobbi gave a heavy sigh, "It's in Russia. I didn't think…"

Natasha stood, shocked. She didn't know the mission was in Russia. Clearly it showed on her face because the other people in the room stared at her like she was a ticking time bomb. Even Fitz who didn't know her at first, realised that something was up.

"Nat, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have." Bobbi said, the two of the women forgot their failing friendship for a rare moment.

"No, it's fine. I'm just going to… go somewhere." Natasha mumbled as she half-shoved past Bobbi, leaving Lance and Fitz very puzzled.

"What just happened?" Lance asked. Bobbi just shook her head and sat down, no words for what just took place.

* * *

Coulson waited as the helicopter landed beside the Bus. He waited for the door to open and a woman step out and walk towards him. Coulson hadn't seen her in so long it was surprising to see her in clothing more suited to Natasha. Her hair hung loose for once and she wore sunglasses over her eyes. He could tell she'd had more experience in the undercover field and you would never know that she used to be the person who was on the other end of their comms and not the person out in the action herself. As she got closer, Coulson could see the smirk on her face and in her voice as she spoke,

"You haven't aged a day, Coulson. What skin cream is it?"

He smirked back at her and turned, leading the way onto the Bus,

"Welcome back, Maria. And I'll take that as a compliment."

* * *

Happy New Year! Have a good one.

I was thinking about changing the title of this story because I don't think it fits with the plot. Any suggestions will be welcomed.

I may have just written the worst fight scene ever. It was too abrupt I think, I'll work on it.

Bobbi and Natasha's issues will be established and resolved soon enough. I'll have Skye, Simmons and Mack in the next chapter.

Review if you can. Thanks for reading.


	4. Cracks are showing

Chapter 4 – Cracks are showing

Thanks again for the reviews and follows.

Enjoy

* * *

Natasha had to remind herself how to breathe. Whose bright idea was it to take her back to Russia? Did they not know about everything that happened there? Of course they did, everyone knew what Black Widow did under the influence of the Red Room. Thoughts spiralled in Natasha's head. The innocent people she had killed, the lies she had told, the monster she was. She couldn't help but still blame herself for what had happened, no matter how many times she was told otherwise. Guilt still consumes her after all these years. Nothing could bring back the people she had killed and nothing could take away the guilt, so much guilt that was living in her heart.

Natasha opened her eyes that had been tightly shut, and realised she didn't know which part of the Bus she was in. She walked out and found herself near a bar area. _Perfect,_ she thought as she made her way to it.

"The Black Widow, once a super spy, now a sad alcoholic. Who would have thought?" A voice came out of nowhere, causing Natasha to whip around. She was really lacking on being a good spy lately. She came face to face with one person she hadn't seen in a long time. Maria Hill.

"What…" She couldn't speak. Too much had happened today, it wasn't comprehendible anymore and Natasha just wanted some sleep or some alcohol.

"Nice to see you, again, Natasha. It would be even better if you didn't look crap." Maria said lightly but concern laced her words. She cared for Natasha a lot, maybe more than she wanted to admit. It had been a while since she had spoken to the spy and now she could see clear signs of sleep deprivation and stress on her face.

"Charming as always," Natasha said, quietly, "It's been a while."

"Yeah. There isn't much downtime when you're in this line of work." Maria said with a half-hearted chuckle. Surprisingly, Natasha let out a much louder laugh but there was something that gave Maria the impression she wasn't laughing with happiness.

"Tell me about it."

There was a pause.

"Are you okay?"

The question came out of nowhere really and it shocked Natasha when she realised it was asked towards her. She didn't have time to think about her wellbeing lately and it was taking its toll. She leaned against the bar counter behind her as Maria stepped closer. _Too close,_ Natasha thought. She felt like she could empty her heart then and there. Maria Hill was someone special, she could trust her. Through everything that had happened over the years, Maria had proven herself time and time again to be trustworthy.

"I'm fine." Was all she replied with.

"Tell me the truth, Natasha." Maria was looking dead into her eyes now, Natasha couldn't feel more uncomfortable.

Natasha drew a breath in and out.

"No, really, I'm fine," Natasha stuttered out. She escaped Maria's gaze by stepping around her and heading back to the lounge area, "We should really get back to Coulson and May."

Natasha left, leaving Maria to stare after her.

* * *

Natasha made her way back to the lounge where Lance informed her that Coulson and May where waiting in Coulson's office for her and Maria to join them as soon as possible.

Walking into Coulson's office, Natasha was obviously interrupting something by the deathly scowl on May's face.

"Sorry, Hunter said you wanted me and Maria here." Natasha mumbled, deciding on standing this time. The two other agents remained silent, one because of their obvious anger about whatever the topic of conversation was before Natasha walked in and the other because of the upcoming conversation that could go very bad, very fast.

Only 2 minutes later did Maria walk in, Coulson was grateful as the tension in the room was spiking to new levels. Maria seated herself next to May, giving Natasha a quick glance before turning her attention to Coulson.

"Well, now everyone's here in one room, I can give the details of the mission to you all," He cleared his throat nervously, "As you know, it's in Russia which is where we will be headed when we get off the ground. S.H.I.E.L.D has detected many deaths in Russia that all have one thing in common."

Coulson handed May a picture which she looked at with an unmoving face though something in her eyes changed as she passed it to Maria who grimaced and handed it to Natasha.

"Is that a carving?" Maria asked. Coulson nodded, grimly,

"It's on every single one of the victims that have been murdered in the last three weeks. Carved into their skin with a knife. In that same shape…" Coulson turned his attention to Natasha, who was staring intently at the image in her hands.

The image showed an image from autopsy of the chest of a man. It had been carved into with a sharp object into a very distinct shape. It was a capital R with another one slightly to the right and on top of the first, the carving was finished with a cross through the initial carving.

Natasha could only think of one thing. The Red Room. It could clearly tell on her face because the other occupants in the room were staring at her. Natasha fixed her own eyes on Coulson's,

"You know this can only be one thing, right? You know what it is," She stated, narrowing her eyes when Coulson shook his head, "Coulson-"

"No, Natasha. The Red Room was shut down a year ago. I thought you knew. This is something very similar though," Coulson continued talking to all three of the agents now as Natasha stood in shock, "We've traced a lead to a man named Victor Markovic. His plan looks to be brainwashing people to become murderers. If we can stop him then it will do a great deal for Russia's population."

May spoke for the first time in a cold voice, "Anything else?"

Coulson sighed, "We have a reason to believe they are creating something that could potentially wipe out the entirety of Russia and then the world. We have managed to get eyes and ears inside that base where we've been told something big is happening and there isn't much time to stop it."

Natasha snapped out of her head long enough to speak, "So you have called me and Maria here to shut down a pathetic piece of machinery? No wonder I left S.H.I.E.L.D, it's pretty useless now!"

Maria turned to face her, "Natasha, calm down."

"Calm down? _Calm down? _I feel like I have come here just to get my past shoved in my face and sent on a stupid mission to stop a man from becoming the next HYDRA. I won't do that. You know why? Because I am sick and tired and I need a break from this… this _game._ I'm done." Natasha ranted then stormed out the office, the door slam echoing throughout the whole Bus.

"I knew something was up with her." Maria shook her head in concern.

"It's not your fault," May said in the same tone as before, "Coulson picked the wrong spy for this mission."

She stood and walked up to his desk, "I told you this wasn't going to work, Phil. If by any chance that Romanoff changes her mind then you are one hell of a lucky man."

May walked out, leaving Maria and Coulson in the room. Maria smirked,

"Well, I really don't wonder why you don't have a wife."

* * *

That was the worst chapter yet. Sorry everyone who gave their time to read it. Thanks for reading anyway. The next chapter is coming soon and should be much better than this.


	5. A wave of calm

Chapter 5 – A wave of calm

Thanks so much for the response to the last chapter, I really wasn't expecting any. Seems that you readers thought it was better than I did.

Enjoy.

* * *

Skye was training alone today. After Ward had betrayed the team she had promised herself to become a better agent so that she could protect her team and notice when she was being manipulated. May had took on the role of being her S.O and in the little time she had been, Skye's ability had improved more than when Ward was her S.O. Skye still felt the effects of Ward's betrayal but now knew how to turn the hurt and the anger into something more useful during combat.

As Skye was practicing her speed drills, she saw Agent Romanoff storm through looking angry, very angry. The older agent's fist flew into the wall with a cry of rage. Skye, although worried that this woman could kill her with her bare finger, stopped her training and hesitantly approached Natasha who was facing the wall, fists clenched by her sides.

"You know, we have a punch bag for that." Skye said as she got within three feet of Natasha. The other agent took a visible breath before turning around to face Skye.

"Agent Skye, right?" Skye nodded, "Sorry about that, your boss can be infuriating at times."

"AC? Oh, definitely," Skye laughed, all hesitance fading away and easing into conversation. Natasha wrapped her hands quickly and took her stance in front of the bag. She doesn't know much about Skye and if she's going to be working with the girl then she might as well use this opportunity to familiarise herself with her.

"How did you get dragged into Coulson's lot?" Natasha asked as she landed her first jabs on the bag. Skye took a seat on the ground and smiled at the memory,

"I was caught hacking S.H.I.E.L.D, actually. Eventually after a lot of betrayal, fighting, more betrayal and dodging bullets – unsuccessfully – I am now a S.H.I.E.L.D agent. May's my S.O." She explained. Natasha raised her eyebrows,

"May's your S.O? How's that working out for you?" She questioned in her surprise. She watched as Skye's faced darkened,

"Well, it's certainly better than my last one. At least May isn't a lying, murdering traitor…" Skye stopped herself thinking that the other woman would be put off by her angry words.

Natasha stopped hitting the punch bag to look at Skye carefully. She could see the clear hurt in Skye's eyes as she thought about her old S.O and could tell that there was love there too. She sighed and knelt beside her,

"The best way to become a good agent is to have experienced all kinds of things. The positives and negatives. Especially the negatives. Because when you're out on the missions you can focus all of your emotions into that mission's objective and be successful. It's worked for me all these years." Natasha finished and stood.

Skye stood also and faced Natasha, "I know, that's pretty much what May told me. I just want to help people and not become like my _father_, I don't want to hurt anyone like he did. Becoming an agent allows me to prove that I'm nothing like him, flesh and blood maybe but that's where it ends."

Natasha looked at Skye with a new respect. The two had so much in common but Skye had more courage than her and will to help people rather than escape from her past like Natasha was. She turned around, going to start punching again, only to find Melinda May standing by the punch bag, surprising both Skye and Natasha.

"Skye, I wouldn't take all of that advice considering bottling everything up doesn't help anyone, especially yourself." May spoke with a look towards Natasha, "We need to talk."

"No, Mel-"

"Natasha."

"Melinda."

"_Natasha."_ May finalised their argument and dragged Natasha to the other side of the room. Skye laughed a little at their behaviour before returning to the punch bag.

May looked at Natasha, really looked at her. As a close friend for many years, she knew what was what with Natasha. She could see through the façade that she put up for everyone else to see, the strong, unbreakable spy that didn't need any time off. When in fact that was sometimes the opposite of what she needed.

"You need a break." May stated. Natasha was already shaking her head at the word 'break'.

"No, I don't."

May's eyes narrowed, "You aren't ready for this mission as you clearly demonstrated in that office, I can see you're tired and you've done nothing but bite people's heads off since the minute I got you from the café. Take a break, Romanoff."

Natasha looked away at Skye practising, then back, "Even if I wanted to take a break, I have nowhere to go anymore. I left Clint. I'm practically homeless now. If I don't do this mission then it's back to dodgy hotels. Plus, this mission will be good for me, I need this, Mel."

May stayed silent for a good two minutes before giving a nod and pulling Natasha into an unexpected hug, "I'm your friend, tell me stuff okay?"

"Of course. Same to you." Natasha replied.

They pulled away from the hug abruptly, a rare moment of public friendship never lasted long, and they had a reputation to hold.

May left to go to the cockpit while Natasha continued training with Skye.

Peace wasn't restored for long though, as soon enough a loud shout was heard by all the occupants of the Bus,

"Lance, you idiot!"

* * *

Thanks for reading, sorry I haven't got around to replying to a couple of reviews.

Hope you guys stick with this, it's moving a little slower than I first thought.

Review if you can.


	6. Bobbi

Chapter 6 – Bobbi

Enjoy.

* * *

Bobbi Morse wasn't usually a stressed person. Bobbi Morse didn't usually get annoyed at the smallest things. But for some reason lately, she felt as though she had to get irritated at every little detail. Which was probably why she snapped at Lance when he walked into her bunk and knocked her battle staves of her shelf as he somehow managed to trip over his own two feet. How someone so clumsy could make such a good agent is beyond her.

"Lance, you idiot!" Bobbi yelled as Lance scrambled to fix the slight mess that Bobbi was clearly seeing as mass destruction. He really didn't want any more of Bobbi's harsh words today, as much as he loved her, there is only so much a person can take. Placing the weapon back on its shelf, he turned to face Bobbi,

"I'm sorry, I just came to-"

Bobbi cut him off, "Trash my bunk? Well, you succeeded. Now you can leave."

Lance frowned, "No, that was an accident. Listen, you just seem really out of it lately and I'm concerned, that's all."

"I'm fine. You don't need to be concerned." Bobbi muttered as she prepared to walk out of her bunk. Lance eyed her for a second, though not believing a word of what she said. She left the room and he followed her until they reached the entrance to the cockpit. Bobbi and Lance faced each other and he spoke,

"Look, I don't know what's going on with you but it seems that ever since Natasha arrived you have been all weird and… it's not you. And I was kind of warming up to you again." He wouldn't admit just yet his feelings for Bobbi had resurfaced.

"I don't need counselling, Hunter. Natasha and I just have a rough patch to clear up, sorry if I'm not 'me' enough right now." Bobbi spoke quietly.

"Just talk to someone, Bob." Lance said as Bobbi entered the cockpit. He wasn't sure if she heard him or not.

* * *

Later that day, Natasha was in the lounge area, taking some time to herself as she had a glass of Coulson's 'hidden' stash of various alcohol, when Bobbi walked in looking for some alone time of her own. Bobbi had to force herself not to turn the other way and walk out again. She was shocked when Natasha actually greeted her,

"Heeyyy, youu." Natasha drawled, clearly she'd had a few _too_ many of Coulson's stash of drinks.

Bobbi frowned at Natasha, trying to figure her out. It was only a couple of days ago when Bobbi had said the mission was in Russia, accidently, and Natasha had been visibly upset by the revelation. She took a seat next to her once very good friend. Maybe they could work something out.

"You're drunk." Bobbi observed. Natasha smiled, gazing at nothing in particular as her hand reached out to rest on Bobbi's knee.

"This is far from what I could be. Although, this is my 7…8…11… maybe 12th glass soooo yeahh…" Natasha rested her head on the back of the seat they were on after taking another gulp of her drink. Bobbi shook her head. Looking at the table in front of them, it seemed as though she'd been through more than just one bottle.

"Natasha, I think you've had enough," Bobbi suggested, taking the glass out of the spy's hands, "We don't need Coulson seeing you like this and I'm pretty sure he'll be pissed you broke into his stuff to _get_ pissed."

"Why are you here?" The question was sudden and made Bobbi think, why was she here? She and Natasha hadn't been on the best of terms for a long while but she really was, deep down in her heart, concerned for Natasha's wellbeing. Bobbi wasn't blind, she could see the exhaustion clear as day. It wasn't only that though, she saw how Natasha held herself with less confidence than before _that_ fateful day and the following days that their friendship slowly broke down. But at the end of it all, Bobbi had the heart in her to help Natasha now, to remove her from the lounge area and get her to her bunk. That was why she was here.

"I'm here because you obviously need help and we were friends one time and it would be great to go back to that at some point." Bobbi focused on getting Natasha up. It was easier said than done. She just about managed to stop the woman from swinging her hand at one of the half full bottles and spilling it everywhere. If anything, that would definitely anger Coulson. The next challenge was getting her to actually walk straight, Natasha was certainly more dunk than she claimed to be.

"Seriously, Natasha. Walking never seemed to be an issue before." Bobbi muttered.

It took a long time, a _long_ time, but eventually the two made it to Natasha's bunk that would usually take a few seconds for any human being without a drunk hanging off them. Bobbi dropped Natasha on the bed in the room. Bunks were pretty small, only a bed, a cupboard for clothes and a small mirror hung on the wall. The rooms at the playground were larger, considering that the agents slept there more often than on the Bus.

"Alright, I'm off to my bunk now so I'll see you tomorrow, Natasha." Bobbi still felt the need to be formal around Natasha because tonight she had been drunk and their little time together did not mean that the friendship was magically fixed. Bobbi turned to walk out of the bunk when Natasha's slur made her stop,

"Don't go, Bob."

A part of her wanted to stay and talk about everything and have it all be okay but she knew that couldn't happen now with Natasha in the state that she was. The both of them had been hurt by each other and other people and it wasn't going to resolve in a day.

"Sorry, I have to go." She finally said. Natasha wouldn't let up.

"Bobbi-"

"Natasha, no, okay. I'll get Maria."

Natasha seemed to accept this as the most she was getting. A whole new personality was about her when she was drunk. She'd gone from wanting alone time to wanting someone to talk to. A few moments passed when she felt a dip in the bed and she opened her eyes to see Maria looking at her,

"Hey," The sober agent greeted, "Gee, you really are hammered."

Natasha scoffed, "Bobbi exaggerates."

"I'm not so sure about that, Nat." Maria chuckled.

* * *

As Maria and Natasha spoke, Bobbi walked away, getting around the corner before letting a few tears spill from her eyes.

* * *

Thanks for reading. Sorry it's a little late.

I wanted to try and get Bobbi's emotions through about the whole thing and I hope that was accomplished in some way.

Review if you can. Next chapter coming soon.


	7. Briefing

Chapter 7 – Briefing

I want to take this moment to truly thank the reviewers and to those who have stuck with this from chapter one. This story has been my most successful by very far, including ones I have posted previously on other sites, and that couldn't have come about without the continuous support. So thank you.

Enjoy.

* * *

It was a new day on the Bus. Coulson was seated at the counter in the kitchen area, today he was planning on informing the team of their first mission. Now everyone on the Bus knew the details he knew about the mission, there was no reason to wait any longer. The more time they sit doing nothing, the more danger Russia is in because of Victor Markovic and his plan to make the world disappear so he could rebuild it his way.

Coulson sipped his orange juice and thought,_ Maybe I made the wrong decision to recruit Natasha. May is usually right…I should listen to her more often than I want to._ He sighed and looked up as he heard footsteps approaching his direction. He winced inwardly as he saw Natasha marching towards him with a firm scowl on her face. He knew what was coming,

"Seriously, you only have a punch bag to train with on this thing. Do you not care for your agents' fitness during missions? It's quite frankly ridiculous, Phil." Natasha ranted as she poured herself a glass of water. She'd made herself drink nothing but water for the next few days after the night before, although it was most likely not to last.

"There's an entire gym back at the playground. This mission is too important for us to hang around dragging gym equipment to the cargo area." Coulson replied. Natasha stopped at the mention of the mission.

"About the mission," She started, Coulson looked at her, "I'm in, you know. I don't care that it's Russia, if it needs to be done then it needs to be done. And I'm willing to do it."

Coulson studied Natasha with curious eyes, "If you're sure…you're under no pressure."

Natasha gave a short laugh to herself, "If only."

Coulson didn't catch it, "Did you say something?" He asked.

She shook her head, grabbing her gear, "Nope, just know that I'm ready for this. Let me know when briefing is. Oh, and by the way, your Californian Zinfandel is divine, I'll get you some more of it, promise."

Natasha left Coulson to shrug and continue his drink when he realised what she was implying and his eyes widened in shock and he sputtered,

"Romanoff!"

* * *

A couple of hours later, Mack strolled into the lab where Fitzsimmons were working on some device they were planning to give to each of the agents when they went on a mission. It had been slow progress but they were getting there and it looked like it would be done in time for use in their current mission.

"Hey, how's it going?" Mack asked as he stopped beside the two lab workers. Fitz continued fiddling with the device while Simmons addressed him,

"The Statistical Analytical Health Observation Device is coming along just fine thanks for asking, Mack." She finished as Mack's eyebrows raised in slight awe at her use of words. Simmons turned back to her work and Mack spoke again,

"Coulson has called a briefing on the first mission, he said it doesn't concern you guys too much but it would be cool if you were there."

Fitzsimmons turned away from the device to acknowledge Mack's words with a nod, "We'll be there, just a bit late because we have a few details to correct first." Fitz explained.

"Alright, I'll tell the director." Mack walked out of the lab, hearing Simmons 'Thanks, Mack' before he made his way to the briefing. He stepped inside and stayed near the back.

The large screen showed a map of Russia and Coulson was about to get started. Natasha, May, Lance and Maria were already there and Mack caught Bobbi slip in and stand beside him.

"Okay, is everybody here?" Coulson began, looking around at each person's face. Mack stepped up,

"Fitz and Simmons will be late, sir. There sorting some weird device out."

Coulson nodded and proceeded, "The first stage of this requires Morse, Romanoff, Skye and Hunter. Morse, you have a contact that will prove useful," A picture of a man with a shaved head and tanned skin was immediately recognisable to Bobbi.

"Daniel Locke." She voiced. Fitzsimmons entered silently.

"Right. Unfortunately, he has been known to be closely involved with Victor Markovic's plan. It's still unclear if he was influenced or if it was voluntary. What we need to do is get information off him about Markovic so we can understand the way he thinks," Coulson paused to take a breath, "Bobbi is going to meet with him, the other three are on back-up."

Bobbi argued, "Backup isn't necessary, Daniel isn't a dangerous man."

"But _his_ backup most likely are, Morse. The help is only there if it's needed," Coulson directed the last part to the three backups, "Everyone clear?"

Nods and murmurs of affirmation were echoed throughout the room. People dispersed their separate ways, Fitz mumbling something about how pointless their presence really was in the end.

Bobbi hung back, staring at the image of Daniel Locke that remained on the screen. She'd known him for too many years to believe he was willingly working to destroy the world. There was something much more sinister at work here and Bobbi Morse wouldn't stop until she figured out what.

* * *

Somewhere in Russia, Peter Lukin walk casually down the city street in the pitch darkness. A chip was held tightly in his hand and his target approached. He brushed shoulders with the man for a split-second before shoving him into the alleyway they were passing, his rough hand preventing the man's mouth from releasing what would have been a scream of terror.

"You will obey." Peter growled into the man's ear, a low, rough tone of voice. The man's breaths were seen in the air as his heart thudded in fear.

His mouth was released but his fear paralysed any movement or sound he wanted to make. Peter eyes pierced into his skin with a penetrating gaze.

The next events happened in a blur.

Peter grabbed the man's neck with a force and the chip in his hand grew spikes and was dug into his victim's neck, causing him to tense and spasm before completely relaxing and standing steadily.

"Do you obey?" Peter asked in a harsh whisper. The man's eyes glinted bright blue before returning to their brown,

"I obey."

* * *

Thanks for reading.

Peter Lukin plays an important part in this story but you won't be hearing much of him until a lot later in the story. Just don't forget the name.

Review if you can. Next chapter up soon.


	8. A bad move

Chapter 8 – A bad move

Thanks for the reviews of the last chapter.

Enjoy.

* * *

"Alright, comms are set and I have eyes in the building so we're good to go, guys," Skye said as she finished typing on her laptop and faced the other agents, "Whenever you're ready, Bobbi."

Bobbi nodded and adjusted her jacket. Daniel knew her as a spy so there was no need to dress undercover, only keep her facts as if she'd never left Russia. Bobbi could do without the interference of the other agents, as much as she appreciated them normally, the job would be much simpler without having someone in her ear telling her what to say to a man she'd known much longer than them. As if reading her thoughts, Natasha spoke,

"Hey, we'll stay out of it if you keep us updated. Any trouble and we're coming in, okay?" She offered. Lance raised an eyebrow. Bobbi, surprised, just nodded again in reply. She had to get going if she was going to be on time.

Daniel had requested to meet at a very specific location. It was a secluded area, a forest, and the Bus had a view from overhead to see if there was any hidden dangers. After they got an all clear, Skye had got to work on setting up comms and cameras. The building itself seemed to be a house that someone could most likely live in, though there was no telling what was inside until Bobbi planted the cameras so they could view the inside through Skye's laptop.

After another minute, Bobbi exited the vehicle and walked the short distance to the house. She stopped by the door and waited, knowing knocking wasn't necessary. One second later, Daniel swung open the door and Bobbi tried not to show her shock at his appearance. His hair had grown – a lot. Not only that, but he had a fresh scar on his head and his eyes held a new darkness to them.

"Daniel." Bobbi greeted. He stepped back to open the door fully and she entered the house. Daniel shut the door behind her and led her through the hallway to the first room. Only two chairs and a table with a side cabinet filled its space.

"So, Bobbi. It sure has been a while. What have you been up to?" Daniel asked, an inquiring look on his face showing his genuine interest. Bobbi shrugged,

"I've only managed a couple of solo missions. Personal ones. Until now, that is. I feel like this," Bobbi picked her words carefully, "Project, we are working on is going to be a great success."

Daniel's eyes sparkled at the thought. He put up his index finger in a gesture to wait and he left the room. Bobbi took this opportunity to place a camera on her side of the table and she covered it with her hands, allowing a little gap for it to see around the room. Daniel re-entered the room, a jug of water and two cups in one hand and a rolled piece of A3 paper in the other. He offered her a cup which she gladly took and poured herself a drink.

The A3 piece of paper was displayed out in front of Bobbi by Daniel and she was suddenly looking straight at a model of a weapon of murder.

"You've probably seen this. Everyone who is involved has been sent a copy. I just wanted to discuss what you thought. It has such a great structure and the power is immense. Such a small weapon can do so much…_damage_. It's truly spectacular." Daniel voiced as if he was in a different world.

Bobbi winced at his words, they were so unlike the words that came out of the same man's mouth only a few years ago. Those words were positive and held no malice.

"It's definitely something. Victor sure played his cards right." Bobbi commented with a slight nod.

"Oh yes, he has a very focused mind. I've never come across it in my life as a spy," He stared at Bobbi intently for a full second, "Or maybe I have. Your ideas and ways of approach were always so unique, so clever. No wonder he picked you."

Bobbi noted the wording, _picked you_, and suddenly realised. They were being plucked of the streets like litter to a bin. Victor Markovic was brainwashing them through something more than just having a good plan and promising them victory.

"Well, everyone has their ways." Bobbi muttered, her eyes glued to Daniel, searching for something, anything she could get.

"With you, this is going to be a great success." Daniel smiled and looked away briefly.

There. Bobbi found it.

A small, miniscule device was attached to Daniel's neck, a red light flashing on it.

Bingo.

* * *

Lance was watching the screen with intensity, waiting for something to happen to give him any sign Bobbi was in trouble. Natasha was sitting in the front but wasn't eyeballing the screen like he was, she preferred to have a view of the house on the outside. Lucky she was, as she spotted the figure lurking in the forest before it moved out of the shadows and towards the house,

"Bobbi, you might have a visitor." Natasha warned through the comms. Lance's head shot up and his eyes found the figure at the house. It was a man, dressed smart, too smart for someone in a forest as he wore a well-kept suit and heavily-tinted sunglasses. He knocked twice and waited, looking around as he did.

Fortunately, their vehicle was parked on an angle where they could see the house quite clearly but there was a tree blocking them from the view of anyone watching from near the house.

"Well, that's got to win top prize for worst disguise ever. That's obviously trouble." Lance said.

"We don't have enough proof. If we go in there guns blazing, for one thing our cover will be blown and another thing – Bobbi will be pissed. I say we stay put." Skye reasoned, looking to Natasha for confirmation.

"I agree." Natasha nodded her head while Lance was already shaking his.

"She could be sitting in danger!" He exclaimed. Natasha whipped around to face him in the backseat,

"Bobbi is a fully trained agent and spy. She knows what she is doing. This is our job, things happen and we get around it. You seem to be forgetting that, Hunter. Bobbi has so many tactics up her sleeve and we have to have faith and belief in her to use them and deflect this guy. So stand down and shut up." She finished with a harsh voice and turned back to look at the house.

Skye cleared her throat and glanced back at the laptop. She had to do a double take when she saw a black screen. Her finger hit the keys frantically but Skye then realised that it wasn't an issue with the laptop, the camera lens had been blocked. Looking up in the direction of the house, the man had gone inside.

"Hey, guys," The apprehension in Skye's voice caused them both to be attentive in a split second, "We have a problem." She gestured to the laptop. Lance and Natasha leaned over Skye and Skye felt Natasha tense and heard Lance curse.

"That's it." He muttered, swinging open his car door, jumping out and slamming it after himself.

Natasha and Skye weren't far behind, the former swearing on her life she was going to kill Lance Hunter for blowing their cover.

* * *

Inside the house, Daniel and Bobbi sat straight at the sound of a door slam. They had just been greeted by one of Daniel's co-workers, Tomas, who was also chipped with the same device as Daniel. Tomas wasn't fazed by the door slam, in fact he hadn't shown much emotion at all since he walked in.

"What was that?" Daniel pondered as he stood from the table, Bobbi following slowly, eyeing his movements. Their eyes met and realisation finally dawned.

"You-" His sentence was cut short by the door being thrown open and Bobbi saw Lance enter, anger flashed in her eyes and face.

She turned back to Daniel to see him gone. Natasha and Skye entered the house as they were suddenly swarmed by men in suits, coming from the direction Daniel had fled in. Bobbi was weaponless but not defenceless as she quickly got to work taking down the opposition.

Lance heard a gunshot and faltered in his actions for a horrific moment before he saw Skye with two guns in her hand, their bullets not failing to collapse their target.

Natasha's victims were less fortunate as they had to endure her extreme combat skills before they joined the growing group of men cowering on the floor. Her anger at Lance was fuelling this fight, though she made sure to save some for his turn.

Bobbi floored the last man surrounding her when she felt a cool metal at her neck suddenly. An arm wrapped around her waist and she fought to get free from its hold.

"You lied to me." Daniel breathed into her ear. Bobbi stopped struggling to get out her words,

"I'm going to help you Daniel, Victor has you brainwashed." The knife shook at her throat.

"Shut up!"

"This won't help anything. I don't want to hurt you so just let me go before I have to." Bobbi said.

Daniel was quiet, thinking. Lance looked over and saw his hesitation as an opportunity. One he would later regret.

"Skye, give me a gun!" He called and was passed one, Skye not realising the intention. Lance aimed, waiting for his perfect moment.

Daniel let go of Bobbi and stepped away by a number of inches.

Lance pulled the trigger.

The bullet whizzed through the air, zipped past Bobbi's ear and entered Daniel Locke's heart.

He was gone.

His body collapsed into Bobbi, she gave a cry. One that held emotional pain and physical pain as the blade Daniel was holding managed to pierce her skin, into her arm. They both fell to the floor with a heavy thud and suddenly the fight was over.

Bobbi was in shock. She couldn't breathe properly or think straight. The pain in her arm dulled as the one in her heart grew. Another world had been created and she was floating in the midst of it. Tears began to roll down her cheeks silently.

Natasha watched on with cold eyes at Lance, before softening them at the scene before her.

Skye had an open mouth from the second the bullet hit Daniel and until then, hadn't moved. She moved her hand to comms and spoke,

"Back-up requested. Target down, repeat, target down. Medics required, stab wound." She took an unsteady breath before approaching Bobbi.

Lance looked guilty. He'd finally understood his actions were selfish and had led them into disaster. He muttered the only words he could muster through his blanket of self-reproach,

"I'm so sorry, Bobbi."

* * *

Whew, thanks for reading.

This chapter was to explore many different themes, decisions people make and thought processes and you can take whatever message you can from it. I tried to convey that Lance's feelings are hindering his work and decision-making and that's possibly why his and Bobbi's relationship will be treacherous, because the inability to be professional and calm in the situation where someone you love is in danger is hard for Lance and would be for other people in his position.

Bobbi and Lance's relationship has now taken a couple steps back but this event will most likely bring them closely together in the near future, once Bobbi gets her mind straight again.

Review if you can.


	9. Emotions

Chapter 9 – Emotions

Thanks for the reviews.

Enjoy.

* * *

Skye managed to drag Daniel Locke's body off Bobbi so she could examine the wound on her arm. The knife hadn't left Bobbi's arm, but it wasn't too deep. Skye saw that the blood flow was quite heavy however looking around, there was nothing to stem it with.

"Hunter, go find something in the kitchen to stem this with." Skye ordered at the man who was still staring guiltily into space. The only mentally stable people in the room seemed to be Skye and Natasha as Bobbi was lost in a mind of confusion and hurt, the anger had faded for now.

When Skye realised Lance was still standing in the same spot, she raised her voice, "Hunter. Go get something now or she'll bleed out!"

Lance's eyes locked onto Skye's, and seeing the hard look on her face, moved into the kitchen. He searched the drawers, finding a towel in one under the sink. Lance took a steady breath to calm and focus himself, then walked back to the others.

"Here." He handed it to Skye who attempted to place it around the knife on Bobbi's arm.

"Bobbi, hey are you with us?" Skye asked to the woman who hadn't said anything since the event took place. The tears had long stopped and her eyes had glazed over. Skye prayed for medics to arrive soon so they could get Bobbi help.

Bobbi didn't move an inch and remained unresponsive. Natasha watched with concerned eyes before returning to her investigation of the scene around them. She'd already picked up the plan Daniel had shown Bobbi and was making her way to his body now. There were no words for her apologies to this man's family. He had been under influence and Lance had made a big mistake in taking it upon himself to kill the guy. During her musings, Natasha spotted something. It was a small device lying next to Daniel's neck, _the chip,_ she thought to herself and pocketed it. She'd have the scientist look at it later.

That moment, vehicles pulled up outside the house and Simmons was the first to enter, Skye flagging her down quickly to aid Bobbi. A few other random agents walked in and started sorting through the bodies of the men they fought, looking for connections. May walked through next and Maria was close behind. Both took in the scene before them as Maria blew out a breath,

"You guys really did a number." She muttered. Walking over to Natasha, Maria gestured to Daniel,

"Who?"

Natasha glanced at Lance who in turn, nodded, "Hunter felt like Bobbi was threatened, made the wrong call and shot him dead. She got stabbed as he went down." She reported. Maria hummed in response and knelt beside Daniel, shaking her head.

"The director is waiting for you in his car." She said to Lance without looking at him.

"How did he know it was me?" Lance sounded offended.

"He was going to be waiting for whoever the hell killed our target. Our innocent target." Maria bit.

Lance walked towards the door, "Trying to kill someone doesn't meet my requirements of innocent." He hissed under his breath.

Maria moved fast. She had him against the wall within a heartbeat.

"Do you have no heart? Do you understand what you have done? Not only jeopardized our effort at getting information, but you've left a family without a father. And if you thought for one second that this was going to save Bobbi, just look at her now," Maria moved to the side to let Lance see Bobbi, "You did what you did for yourself. If you say anything else before getting to that vehicle, I will personally take you down, Hunter."

Lance bowed his head and silently exited the house. Maria still had her back to the room who had gone silent themselves, Simmons halting her treatment for Bobbi. Natasha waved her hand for her to continue as she approached Maria's tense form.

"Maria, take a breath." Natasha murmured in the woman's ear.

"I shouldn't have said any of that. It makes me just as bad." Maria whispered. Natasha stood in front of Maria and tried to catch her eyes.

"Hey, Hunter deserved every word of what you said. It _needed_ to be said. Even though I can tell he was almost immediately remorseful and he is feeling the guilt. It doesn't make his actions any better. His worst punishment is that it will stay with him forever. Trust me, I know the feeling, I know the hurt, pain and how it haunts you. But it should. It keeps you going sometimes. So no matter if you think what you just said to Hunter was right or wrong, he'll get over it. He'll understand. You got nothing to worry about." Natasha finished by hugging Maria, very quickly. Maria couldn't help the flutter in her heart when Natasha hugged her.

"We need to get going back to the plane so I can get this knife out without causing damage." Simmons broke in, causing Natasha to move to help Skye and Simmons get Bobbi up. The reaction she got shocked her.

Bobbi pulled out of her head when Natasha touched her, "What are you doing? Get your hands off me!"

Her movements caused the knife to be knocked slightly and a sharp pain shot down her arm. Bobbi groaned and slumped back. Natasha stepped back as if she'd been burnt.

"Bobbi, let me help." She insisted. Bobbi was having none of it.

"Like you totally did last time we were in Russia together. When I tried so hard to help you and you said something so hurtful…" Bobbi trailed, her words starting to slur together as her movements became slower and weaker. The blood loss and shock were getting to her.

"Bob, we don't need to talk about that now." Natasha cleared her throat and attempted to help again, this time more successful because Bobbi wasn't as strong.

"No… I haven't forgiven you yet… it hurt me." Bobbi breathed. They struggled to get out the door and to the car where Bobbi was placed in the backseat, Simmons with her. Skye went in the passenger seat while Maria and Natasha took the vehicle in front.

"What's the situation with you and Bobbi?" Maria asked once they got on the road.

Natasha spoke quietly, "Something I need to talk to her about before anyone else."

Maria nodded in understanding, "It's been a heavy day."

"Just wait till tomorrow."

* * *

Thanks for reading.

Bobbi is really out of character in the last couple chapters but that's because she's going through this mental and emotional battle about everything and anything in her life. But don't worry, she'll be back to normal soon enough. You know, once she and Tash have their 'little' chat about what happened in Russia. All will be revealed, maybe in the next chapter, who knows? Oh, me. :-)

Review if you can. Thank you all.


	10. Talking the past

Chapter 10 – Talking the past

_Italics_ are memories and normal font is just normal.

Enjoy.

* * *

Victor Markovic was mad. It had been reported to him that one of his finest had been shot dead. When Victor was not happy, no one else would be either.

"How did you let this happen?! You were supposed to be monitoring the meeting with the stupid S.H.I.E.L.D agent like a hawk! Now he's dead!" His fist slammed onto the desk he sat at. The man shook with fear at his boss' outburst.

"I-I was watching but it all happened so fast, I thought I would save myself…" His argument fell on deaf ears.

"Do you have any idea what this means? They have the upper hand, apart from not knowing we knew about the meeting, they have all the information and we have none!" Victor bellowed, his face red with anger, "Get out of my sight!"

The man didn't hesitate to scamper out the room, fearing for his life and thankful he got away unharmed.

Victor had a new plan. He would blackmail, take them down one by one until there was none of them left and he was free to rule.

* * *

Mack was standing in the lab, watching Bobbi lay on the lab bed that had been made more comfortable while she had to stay there to recover from not only her stab wound, but the emotional stress she had been put under. Simmons stopped working with Fitz every now and then to check on her vitals and all seemed normal under the circumstances.

Bobbi had stirred a few times since he'd walked in a few hours ago but hadn't woken since she passed out on the way to the lab yesterday. A total of 17 hours she'd been sleeping. Mack hoped that would be enough because when Bobbi woke she was going to have to do a lot of talking.

Lance had given his side of the story to Coulson, who told him he would tell him his punishment when it was finalised. Lance had gone to his bunk and only come out for breakfast that morning and walked by to check on Bobbi once. He knew he was going to get more than an earful from her when she woke up.

The whole Bus dynamics had changed. For the people who were there when it happened, it felt too much like when Ward betrayed them and everyone reverted into themselves, a cold atmosphere settling.

* * *

Bobbi's mind was clouded with thoughts, even in her unconsciousness. They were jumbled up though, she couldn't make out what they were saying. Something had happened, something significant. She couldn't think straight…

All of a sudden, she felt her eyelids being pulled up and she tried to shake her head to rid of the intrusion. Her eyelid was let go and Bobbi heard faint voices,

"…hear me? Bobbi?" A woman's voice floated into her ears and Bobbi knew it was familiar. She attempted to force her eyes open to be met with light piercing into her vision. Jemma Simmons' kind face staring at her.

"Great to see you awake and with us, Agent Morse." Simmons commented as Mack walked over to the bed.

"It's Bobbi." Bobbi croaked, stopping when she heard herself. Her voice was cracked as if it had been under or over-used causing it to sound like a frog on a bad day. Simmons nodded.

"Yes, of course. Bobbi." She corrected.

"How you holding up? You had quite the rollercoaster ride from what I heard." Mack said as he stood by her bed with concerned features. The two had a very close friendship, despite it being unspoken most of time.

Bobbi's mind went into overdrive as the events of the day before swirled in her mind. The mission, Daniel- oh, god Daniel. He was dead. Hunter killed him. And she'd been stabbed. Right, she forgot. Then there were words said after. Skye and Simmons were helping her when… _Natasha_ came over to help. Bobbi now remembered the words she had said weren't all that positive. She looked at Mack,

"Yeah, I guess I did," She frowned at her arm, "How strong are the drugs you got me on, Simmons?"

The young bio-chemist looked guilty, "Well, you were in a state of major distress and I wanted to prevent any further harm to you or anyone else…"

Bobbi smiled at Simmons, the woman was just too caring for her own good sometimes, "That's cool, Simmons."

That moment, Natasha walked into the room, not seeing Bobbi awake before she did.

"Hey, scientist, I almost forgot. This chip was next to Locke's neck when I investigated. I figured Bobbi would know something when she…" Natasha's gaze landed on Bobbi who was well awake and smiled at her.

"Hey, Bob. Good to see your, y'know, okay and stuff." Natasha rambled only to get an appreciative nod from Bobbi and nothing else.

"So yeah, scientist just find out what you can and tell Coulson if you find anything." Natasha stated and slid back out the room. Skye walked in as she did,

"Hey, everything okay?" Skye asked as she strolled over to Bobbi. After all the drama, the young agent was worried about the aftermath and what was to come between some of the agents on the Bus.

"When is it ever?" Bobbi replied with a sad smile on her face. Skye's eyebrows pulled together and she gestured for Mack to leave. The man quickly said his goodbye's before going to search for Lance.

Skye perched on the bed beside Bobbi and looked into her eyes. She wasn't usually one for the motivational speech, in fact she was quite the opposite by finding herself in trouble a lot of the time but this one occasion required her to reach deep down and pull some words to make Bobbi understand.

"Okay. I get that you and Natasha have had a past. I get that none of us on the Bus know the full story and I'm not gonna force you to spill your secrets here and now. What I do want though, is for you and Natasha to talk. I'm not one to see emotions unless they stare me in the face but I can tell that this is hurting Natasha and more importantly, it's suffocating you. We need our Morse back, she's been drowning in water for too long now." Skye voiced to her friend.

"I know. I know and I'll talk. It's just so hard to get what I want to say out of my head. I haven't spoken about my emotions for a long time, Skye." Bobbi expressed and let her head fall back onto the pillow. Skye reached out her hand and squeezed Bobbi's.

"You'll be fine. I have a feeling that Natasha's head is going through the same motions."

Bobbi gave a short laugh, "Slight difference is that I don't bite people's heads off when they try to help me."

"Hey, no," Skye stood up, keeping hold of Bobbi's hand but standing over her to catch her eyes, "We won't have any of that. Remember, bitterness causes a heartbreak, forgiveness is the best therapy."

"Thank you, Skye." Bobbi whispered.

"No worries." Skye said, gave Bobbi's hand another squeeze and walked out of the lab. Bobbi sat up in the bed and called to Simmons,

"Can I get out of here? There's something I need to do."

Simmons left Fitz again to return to Bobbi's side. She looked sceptical but started to remove the wires and turn off the machines,

"Only because you are close to me if you take a bad turn. Really I would keep you for observation for at least a day to monitor your vitals and make sure there was no more emotional stress… but I have a feeling what you need to do may go against that."

"You're right. But I promise not to go crazy with it." Bobbi assured.

"If you say so, Agent Morse. I mean, Bobbi. And you're free to go." Simmons reddened with embarrassment at her slip up. Bobbi stood,

"Thanks for all your help." She said before going in search of Natasha.

* * *

Natasha was in her bunk after her encounter with Bobbi in the lab. Ever since Bobbi had confessed that she had felt hurt by Natasha's words in Russia all that time ago, her brain couldn't stop thinking about it.

"_Natasha?" Bobbi called into the apartment, searching for the other woman in each of the rooms. When there was no response and the rooms were seen empty, Bobbi went to the bathroom._

"_Nat? You in there?" She knocked on the door. No answer._

"_Come on, just say you're alright. Do you need your meds?"_

"_Natasha."_

"_Seriously? This is getting ridiculous."_

"_Nat, I'm getting worried."_

"_Please-"_

_The door swung open and banged against the wall with a loud thud. Natasha stood there, barely, her face mirroring the same as an angry lion. Her hair was wet, showing that she'd just had a shower. Bobbi frowned but relaxed her face in a kind approach to the conversation,_

"_Hey, I was getting worried there, Nat. You alright?"_

_Natasha shoved past Bobbi. Bobbi followed, the same routine they went through each night when Bobbi got home. This time they ended up in the bedroom._

"_Talk to me." Bobbi offered, gently. Natasha reeled around and got right up in Bobbi's face,_

"_You want me to talk, I'll talk. I have been attacked. Beaten up and made to feel this small. Vulnerable. I can never go out without looking over my shoulder every ten seconds. This is what I have become." She breathed and gestured wildly to herself, "Do you have any idea how it feels?"_

_Bobbi remained calm, not wanting to aggravate Natasha further, "I've been with you every step of the way since that day. I'm the closest a person can get to knowing how it feels. Hurts me too you know."_

"_Hurts you too? Hurts you too? What gives you the right to say that? You have no idea!" Natasha shouted, pacing around the room once more._

There was a knock at her door that drew Natasha out of her memory. She walked the few steps to the door and slid it open. Standing there, fresh from the lab, was Bobbi. Natasha must have faltered for too long as the next thing she knew Bobbi was asking,

"Can I come in?"

Natasha stepped back to allow the other agent to enter the small area and shut the door behind them. She casually placed herself back on the bed and gestured for Bobbi to join her. As Bobbi sat, Natasha broke the tense atmosphere,

"So, how are you? It was quite hectic out there right? One second everything's fine then the next Hunter is bursting in and ruining the whole mission. Anyway, I'm sure that's not what you're here for because, well, I don't know…" Natasha raised her eyes to see Bobbi uninterested in her babble and had a serious edge to her face,

"We need to talk."

Suddenly, the tense atmosphere returned, harsher than ever, and there were no amount of words that Natasha could speak to make it go away.

"Yeah, we do. Should I start?" Natasha offered, Bobbi nodded her head immediately, glad that the Russian agent had something to say rather than herself who was still figuring out what to say.

"Okay, um…" Natasha started, "I'm sorry, Bobbi. I said something so hurtful to you and I will never forgive myself for it. I realised only a few hours after what you must have been going through could have turned out to be much worse than the physical pain I was experiencing. I let you down and I will not forget that. We were best friends – sisters. I haven't worked well on any mission than when I'm working with you."

Bobbi refused to look Natasha in the eye and focused on the wall above her head. Natasha had basically just vomited her emotions up about the whole thing and now it was her turn to. She didn't know how to begin as her mind flashed back to that day when she found Natasha in the defeated, beaten state she was in.

"_West side clear, Widow, do you copy?" Bobbi asked through their comms. Bobbi continued down the stairs she was descending from the fourth floor. By the time she reached third, there was still no answer._

"_Widow? Report your status." Bobbi tried again and this time the comms came to life and Natasha's voice floated through,_

"_East side floor three clear. Voices heard on fourth floor. Proceeding to investigate." _

_Bobbi quickly made her way down the numerous steps to get the ground floor before jogging out to the mid-section and entering the east side where Natasha was located. She started back up to get to her partners position. As she reached the half way point of the first set of stairs, Bobbi heard a loud bang come from high above before multiple smashes and shouts followed soon after. She found herself running the rest of the way, 2 and a half floors, until she reached the source of the sound. Strangely, there were no bodies to suggest a struggle had taken place. The only clue Bobbi was given to follow was the trail of red liquid, blood, leading to a closed door. She tried not to think the worst as she spoke into her comm,_

"_Hawkeye, I think we might need back-up. Stay out until confirmation is given." It came out in a whisper, her voice lost in the fear of the unknown. What was going to be behind that door?_

_Her feet led her towards it and her hand lay on the handle. If Natasha was hurt, she needed to get her act together. So Bobbi turned the handle and quickly entered the room, gun in hand, poised for fight._

_Bobbi could just about make out a body on the floor as the room was plunged into almost complete darkness. There were people bustling about the room, some running for escape and others beating on the body that was lying limp on the floor. Bobbi sprang into action, not wasting any time to take down anybody who fought against her so she could reach the person on the floor. _

"_Hawkeye, back-up now!" Bobbi shouted through the comms as she shot a target._

"_On its way." Clint's rough reply came through and Bobbi heard the first part of his call to the others on the mission before the comm cut off._

_Bobbi eventually made it to the form on the ground and squinted to identify them. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness fully and she gasped in sheer horror as she saw Natasha with blood and bruises all over her body, her limbs not holding themselves like they should be._

"_Nat. Nat, look at me." It was a pretty ridiculous demand as she could hardly see herself in the darkness._

_Bobbi reached her arm back and fired her gun, the heavy drop of a body telling her she succeeded in her shot. She'd thank Clint later._

_Speaking of Clint, back-up came storming through, Clint leading the pack of agents who weren't fully trained and lacked experience, especially in this kind of situation. Clint barked orders at them and they scattered, while he made his way to his two fellow agents._

"_What happened?" He questioned, taking in Natasha's appearance._

"_She looks drugged, we need to go."_

Bobbi pulled back to the present by Natasha's hand touching her knee,

"You've been zoned for the last couple of minutes, everything okay?"

Bobbi closed her eyes and breathed through her nose to relieve the tension that had escalated as she relived the moment when Natasha was found in such a state.

"I have realised that all this time I was struggling to forgive you, it's really me I haven't been able to forgive," Bobbi recited what Skye had told her earlier, "Bitterness causes a heartbreak, forgiveness is the best therapy. And I think we need to do a bit of forgive and forget here because our friendship is more important than any words said."

Natasha stared at Bobbi in wonder. Some people would see Natasha as the strongest within their friendship, but Bobbi had so much heart it must be hard to see good all the time. It must take true strength.

"Before though," Bobbi continued, "I wanted to apologise for leaving you when you were at your lowest. I should've taken your words in my stride instead of acting like an idiot and leaving."

Natasha paused, she wouldn't deny the apology and say it's okay, because it wasn't and it broke Natasha when Bobbi left her.

"_You're useless and I couldn't care less if stayed or left because you're no good here! Why can't you people just understand that! God!" Natasha cried in frustration. Bobbi stood, looking deeply hurt by Natasha's words and opened her mouth to say something, nothing coming out though._

"_The only reason you are still here is guilt. Guilt, Bobbi. GUILT!" As Natasha's words got more and more aggressive, Bobbi backed away, grabbing her one bag before turning and stumbling out the door. One word repeating in her head._

_Guilt._

Both women landed back in reality and looked into each other's eyes. They held no more guilt. No more anger or hurt. Just forgiveness and that was the first step to their rebuilt friendship.

They moved at the same time into a warm, judgement-free hug and it lasted.

"I missed you, Bob." Natasha admitted softly. Bobbi nodded against her shoulder,

"I missed you too."

* * *

Thanks for reading.

Sorry if it wasn't what you were expecting or if the story doesn't make full sense. Don't hesitate to PM me if you're confused and I'll do my best to explain.

I'm happy that I can now write Natasha and Bobbi as friends and I hope you guys will enjoy reading it as I will writing it. The story can now progress with our characters being stronger and independent as we know them on our screens and in the comics.

Review if you can, thanks everyone who reads and reviews every time.


	11. Talks to talk

Chapter 11 – Talks to talk

Enjoy.

* * *

Maria sat in a seat in the lounge area. Her mind had been in deep thought for a while now and her main train of thought rested with Lance. She felt overwhelming guilt for what she said a couple days ago at Daniel Locke's safehouse. Maria still hadn't managed to pluck up the courage to apologise but then again he had been giving her the cold shoulder when they were in the same room. It was becoming hard to live with for not only Maria, but everyone on the Bus. After the news had spread that Natasha and Bobbi had sorted their problems to a degree, a small weight had been lifted however the current situation with Lance made it hard for everyone to feel any better than before.

The peace was something that Maria savoured because she had been working alone for so long after she left working at S.H.I.E.L.D and did solo missions all over the globe. When Coulson became director, Maria had felt a little lost but then she got the call for this and despite her initial doubts, it's done her a lot of favours. Including re-uniting her with Natasha Romanoff.

Natasha and Maria had worked together with the Avengers. There hadn't been any direct interaction but Maria knew she had felt something between them when they were in the same room. Then the Avengers disbanded and Natasha had lost touch with pretty much everyone except Clint. Maria had wondered if Natasha had felt the same spark but she soon moved on from the fact that maybe they could have been closer than co-workers.

In her frustration, Maria let out a loud sigh. A hearty chuckle from behind her made her jump and she twisted her head to see Natasha before she moved around the seat Maria was on and plopped down onto the couch.

"You're stressed." Natasha stated with no room for question. Not that Maria had any intent on disagreeing.

"You're correct."

Natasha smiled lazily and Maria put that down to the fact that she and Bobbi had had their chat and cleared the air because the Russian spy did not smile often.

"I usually am," Natasha boasted, still smiling, "That's the thing with me. Need some advice? I got the right answers."

"Well, that would be useful. I have a question. What the heck am I supposed to say to Hunter?" Maria threw out. Natasha's face morphed into a slight frown,

"That's what you're stressing over. Lance Hunter. What you said isn't anything to feel guilty about, Maria. He was plain rude and inconsiderate to Bobbi and everyone else and he is the one who needs to, and has, apologise. There's too much bad air on this Bus, you don't need to create more for yourself." Natasha finished and someway throughout her little speech, her hand had found Maria's and their fingers were intertwined.

Maria forced her heart rate to slow down and swallowed, "Yeah, I guess you really are right."

"Damn straight."

* * *

Lance made his way into Coulson's office. His posture was slouched and his face was etched with remorse. As he took his seat, Coulson was closely examining a piece of paper. Lance's leg bounced with anticipation and his hand ran through his short hair.

"All right," Coulson started, "This is Agent Morse's report on what happened," He waved the sheet of paper in his hand, "It does not state any reason why you should be punished for your actions. She's been pretty easy on you, Lance."

Lance almost choked on his own oxygen intake, "What do you mean? After all the guilt and regret for the last two or three days and there's no punishment or – or anything?"

Coulson shook his head, "Your punishment has been served, well almost. You still have to talk to Agent Morse which itself will not be pleasant."

"You don't know the half of it. It's going to be even worse than when we were married." Lance mumbled. Coulson nodded in agreement,

"Maybe, but you owe her that much. Just think if this report was different, you would not have a job. Now go and sort this situation out before the Bus falls out of sky from tense atmosphere. Trust me, May wouldn't like that."

Lance quickly walked out of the office and down the stairs and headed towards the lounge area. He entered, seeing Natasha and Maria in a deep conversation. Maria chuckled at something Natasha said and Lance swore he saw Maria stare for a little too long.

He approached the duo slowly, making sure they both saw him, giving them the chance to walk away – testing the waters. Neither of them walked so Lance took a seat opposite Maria. Natasha's body language remained calm, though she felt the waves of anxiety rolling off the two other agents in the room. She had managed to refrain her anger at Lance for so long, only because of Bobbi. Now Natasha did have the chance to bite his head off and she decided against it. It wasn't her place – not this time.

The silence stretched another mile and Natasha began to wonder if there was actually anyone else in the room but herself.

"Seriously, talk or walk. If you're not ready, fair enough, but don't waste precious time sitting here when we have work to do, okay?" Natasha announced before swiftly getting up and drifting out of the room.

Maria and Lance looked equally awkward and both stared at each other before they both broke into sudden fits of laughter,

"Why the hell are we like this?" Maria voiced through her laughing. Lance could only shrug through his own.

Eventually, they settled down and Lance spoke,

"I am sorry though. For what it's worth, I felt kind of crap lately and knowing I hurt Bobbi is pretty defeating. We don't know each other a great deal but I prefer when we're civil."

Maria smiled, "You and me both. We good? Cause I'm pretty sure Natasha on the other side of this room listening so…"

"We're good." Lance nodded.

They both raised from their seats and stood face to face. Lance's arms moved and Maria's eyes widened,

"We aren't hugging."

"No?"

"Nope. Definitely not."

"Cool."

"100% cool."

"…"

"And we're back to awkward."

"Yep."

* * *

Natasha leant on the wall next to the lounge area, listening to Maria and Lance's conversation – if you could call it that. Puffing out a short breath, she pondered aloud,

"So me and Bobbi, tick. Maria and Hunter, tick. Next up, Bobbi and Hunter," Natasha's voice dropped to a sarcastic mutter, "Should be fun."

* * *

Thanks for reading.

First off, I'm so sorry it's been more than a week since I updated and I come out with only this. I have my reasons but I'm sure you all don't want to hear about them.

Anyway, next chapter should be up sooner, however I won't make a promise I can't keep. It will have Bobbi and Lance's little chit chat and Skye's perspective. And it's been a bit of time since May was around, right?

Review if you can. Till next time.


	12. Not like him

Chapter 12 – Not like him

Enjoy.

* * *

Agent May had just entered the cockpit to regain control of the Bus for a short while before returning to the chaos of agent life. She'd slinked around the Bus just enough to keep herself update with the happenings but not enough to get herself directly involved. However, today was different. May found that she could move around the bus without seeing one person glaring at another person at every corner. There was a lot less tension. The only remaining cold air hung between Lance and Bobbi but that had always been present in one way or another.

The Bus was surfing over Russia for a short while before moving onto their next destination. Coulson had told May that they would brief the next mission later on today. Until then, May intended on staying in the cockpit.

She managed half an hour alone before the door to the cockpit opened. May sensed who it was before they sat down beside her,

"Hello, Skye." She spoke in an even tone. Skye sighed, exasperated,

"How do you do that?" Skye exclaimed.

May smirked. It wasn't the first time Skye had been overly impressed with her skills and it was becoming a regular occurrence that she asked that same question. But Skye always got the same answer,

"All in good time."

Skye frowned, "You're my S.O, don't you have to answer my questions?"

"I do."

The younger agent rolled her eyes and refrained from acting like a complete child in front of her S.O, "Yeah, with the same answer every time. I'm not getting any better."

It was May's turn to frown, only slightly, "You have. You just aren't seeing it."

May's words came with a stretch of silence that followed. Skye had fallen into her own train of thought and the atmosphere had long moved on from the joking tone it took on when she first walked in. Other people had been telling her that her skills had improved a lot since… _Ward_ left. Her physique had improved, fighting skills and training had been almost non-stop. But Skye had pretty much ignored the compliments and insisted there needed to be more work happening because she was nowhere near as good as May. One negative of May being Skye's S.O meant that Skye was looking to be that good in such a short space of time which wasn't going to happen any time soon. Skye did know this deep down but it didn't stop her from trying.

"What did you come here for, Skye?" May asked, breaking the silence with a question. Skye's eyes clouded for a second before she covered up the emotions and explained,

"When Lance came back from that mission… everyone was so cold towards him and it made me think back to the time we found out Ward was with Hydra. It scared me because I know I can't handle that betrayal again so soon. I only just got myself balanced out after Agent Romanoff spoke to me about fuelling your fight through emotions. But if what Lance did tipped the scales…"

May returned the Bus to autopilot and faced her body towards Skye, giving her whole focus to the young woman. It wasn't a habit that May showed compassion but in this moment Skye needed a boost,

"If Lance tipped the scales and if you were to struggle again then you are surrounded by a support system that know what you've been through, hell, probably even been through it themselves. I know I've had my heart crushed a few times. No one becomes a void of all emotion for no reason," May chuckled lightly, "And Natasha, she's been through a lot. Gives some good advice, you know, you should talk to her. Fitzsimmons were betrayed by Ward just as much as you. Their relationship with him may have been different but it was existent. They put their full trust him, their lives in his hands. And he took advantage of that. What I'm trying to say is, you are not alone. The struggle still runs through everyone, Skye."

Skye's eyes had locked onto May's and they held hope and a new determination in them than before,

"Lance isn't like him." She whispered. May shook her head,

"No, Lance is not like him. If he was, he wouldn't be walking on this plane or even breathing for that matter."

Skye smiled gratefully. Even though May could be cold most of the time. She was a great mentor and Skye was sometimes thankful that Ward had left because if he hadn't then May would have still been intimidating in Skye's eyes and they wouldn't have known each other like they do now.

"Thanks, May."

"No problem. Now get out the cockpit." May ordered gently as she regained control of the Bus again. Though she didn't miss the grin that spread across Skye's face.

* * *

Thanks for reading.

A quick filler chapter for fans of the newly formed Skye and May companionship. Next chapter should be longer and have more plot.

Thanks for the support in this story.

Review if you can.


	13. One step forward, two steps back

Chapter 13 – One step forward, two steps back

Enjoy.

* * *

"The chip is infused with Daniel's DNA. It's like whoever makes these things knew they wanted him and this chip was programmed for him and him only." Simmons explained to everyone in the briefing room. She and Fitz had finished the research on the chip Natasha picked up from beside Daniel Locke's body. Bobbi had given the information that it had been attached to his neck and so the two scientists started to tie the loose ends and had come up with a valid lead.

"So what we are trying to say is that Victor Markovic knows who he wants. He follows them, chips them and they have no idea its coming." Fitz finalised. Most of the agents contemplated the new information while Natasha asked a question,

"So the next mission is…?"

Coulson stepped up next to Fitzsimmons and answered, "What Fitzsimmons didn't mention was that they traced the chip to a location where we believe it was created. If this is the case then our mission just got easier."

He continued, "The next mission will be at a small lab college in Tochi. It's an investigation undercover and Maria, Fitzsimmons and Agent Romanoff will be taking part."

Fitzsimmons looked shocked at their part in the next bit of the mission but it wasn't going to be their first time out in the field despite not being trained agents. Maria and Natasha shared a knowing look between them, missed by everyone but May.

"This'll be great fun." Maria commented, causing Natasha to laugh slightly at the inside joke.

Coulson moved on to explain about their covers. Maria being Fitzsimmons representative for them to apply at the college and Natasha going in as a visitor to do checks on the college's progress. The discussion went on for a further 10 minutes before Coulson eventually dismissed everyone as May said wheels up in 20.

As Bobbi headed towards the bunks, Natasha practically launched herself towards Lance who almost jumped out of his skin at her sudden appearance. All of a sudden Natasha was puling weird faces and leaning her neck in a certain way. Lance wasn't sure what alternate world he just entered,

"Do you need something?" He pronounced each word with extra emphasis. Natasha's response was to stop the abnormal movements to her features and scowl at Lance as she spoke,

"Really? I'm trying to get you to go after Bobbi, idiot. Isn't it obvious?"

Lance pretended to think then shook his head slowly, "No, not really."

"Just go, Hunter. Before I find something to hurt you with." Natasha said in a low tone. Lance was oblivious to the threat as he carried on,

"I thought you could kill someone with your bare hands?"

Natasha almost lost it then and there, "Don't push it!"

Finally, Lance got the message and hurriedly made to catch up with Bobbi, leaving Natasha quietly seething at his idiocy.

* * *

Bobbi had just walked into her bunk and was about to slide the door closed when Lance came hurtling through into her room.

"What do you think you're doing?" Bobbi hissed, not one bit pleased to see Lance in her room. Lance flustered a second before composing himself,

"I want to talk. To you." He mumbled. Bobbi raised an eyebrow,

"You do? That's great, but maybe some other time cause I don't." she proceeded to urge him out the door but Lance wouldn't budge.

"Bobbi, really. If you don't want to talk then just listen, I'll talk. I don't have much to say. I don't think there is much I can say to be honest but give me a chance. Please." He begged.

Bobbi stared him down for another second before giving in and walking away to sit on her bed. She gestured her hand for him to sit beside her. Lance breathed a sigh of relief and after closing the door fully, he took a place beside Bobbi. Suddenly, Lance was at loss for words which was surprising considering the small amount of them he had anyway.

"Uh…"

Bobbi could see the internal struggle within Lance and she softened her features and body posture from their tense position to relax the atmosphere in the room.

"Are you good?" Bobbi asked out of nowhere, "I mean, after everything. I know you well enough that you've been affected by this as much as people are saying I was."

Lance nodded, grateful for the question, "I'm fine. Sure, it wasn't the greatest feeling in the world being on the Bus with everyone either ignoring me or throwing comments but I understand why they did. I was a massive douchebag that day but I won't let it define me. And because of you I didn't actually get a punishment in the end, Bob."

Bobbi bowed her head in embarrassment but still spoke confidently, "Like I've said, I vouched for you."

Lance grinned lightly, "Right. Thanks for that."

There was a moment where neither of them said anything. However, in contrast to before, this silence was much more comfortable to sit in and Lance was regretful when he had to break it.

"Bob, I wanted to say I'm sorry for… what happened that day."

The once comfortable feel then drastically morphed into a wave of negativity from Bobbi's facial expression only that caused Lance to rethink taking Natasha's advice about talking to Bobbi so soon. Bobbi had put the emotional walls up so high now that it was going to be a tough fight to get them down again.

"Look, I'm sorry it's so soon but-"

"Hunter don't. Just don't. Not now. In fact I don't think this is the best idea." Bobbi cut in. Lance tried to understand but there was a point – a limit – and his limit was getting closer and closer.

"When you let me in here only 5 minutes ago did you not think we were going to talk about this. Did you think we were going to have a happy conversation about sunshine and rainbows? Seriously, Bobbi I thought you were much smarter than that." He snapped.

Bobbi's eyes flashed, "Okay, I'm a little sick of your innocence game you have going on here. _You_ were the one who killed Daniel, not me. _You_ were the one who made the wrong call, not me._ You_ get to live with the guilt, not me."

Her words cut deep and it showed. Lance stood from the bed and his voice took a tone that no one would expect him to use. It masked his hurt and unleashed his anger at the situation. Despite it all, Lance knew he wasn't angry at Bobbi and she wasn't at him but it was the only emotion the two could afford to show.

"That's low, Bobbi. Even for you. You have no right to talk about what I did like it's the worst thing in the world when it was you that worked undercover for Hydra for so long." Lance snarled before storming out of the bunk.

Bobbi released a breath she didn't realised was being held. That one hurt. It wasn't that she didn't know the bad things that happened when she worked for Hydra. It wouldn't have hurt if the comment was from anyone else. Despite Natasha sometimes, only Lance Hunter could make Bobbi feel this bad.

* * *

Later that day, Maria and Natasha were preparing to train together. The upcoming mission didn't plan for any violence but it didn't hurt to train a little before. In reality, that was the excuse they both used to be able to hang out together some more.

"How much do you want to bet that Hunter and Bobbi will have made up in the next hour?" Maria asked to Natasha who scoffed,

"I doubt it. I mean, I try my best but even that won't be enough with those two. So I don't think I'll put my money on that one."

The two women continued to laugh together when May's voice came over the speakers from her place at the cockpit. The plane had been in flight for a little while as they made a slow journey to their next destination. May's voice had an edge that no person on the Bus liked to hear,

"_Foreign aircraft is in our radar. Take a seat, it could get ugly."_

* * *

Thanks for reading.

Sorry if the bit with Lance and Bobbi broke Huntingbird hearts but I'll say that their hate and anger was only fuelled by their love for one another.

Drama is on its way and with it will come a new character. The next chapter may be a little shorter but the one after is the mission so that should make up for it. And Tochi is completely made up by myself, I didn't want to risk using a real place and getting the facts wrong. A bit of imagination never hurt anyone before, right?

By the way, has everyone seen _Marvels Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D_ 2x11 promo? If not, why not?!

Review if you can. X


	14. Chipped

Chapter 14 – Chipped

Enjoy.

* * *

Skye was walking through the lounge area when May's voice came over the speakers,

"_Foreign aircraft is in our radar. Take a seat, it could get ugly."_

Last time this had happened, it had required May to pull out her best flight skills to stop the plane from plummeting down into the sea. Skye sat in one of the nearby seats in the lounge area and waited for any sign of turbulence.

She heard heavy footsteps in another part of the Bus signalling that the others were also hurriedly trying to find their seats. It remained eerily quiet in the section that Skye sat in and she figured that everyone else but May were in the cargo area.

There was only one window in the lounge that Skye's eyes were fixed on to see if the aircraft was visible through it. After a few more minutes, when Skye was thinking that they were all clear, that the first move was made. The window that Skye was burning holes into with her staring suddenly had a very small hole in it and before she knew it, a small object was flying towards her.

* * *

May sat in the cockpit, fighting to keep an eye on the aircraft and fly the Bus. There were two aircraft coming to each side of the Bus and May could practically taste the danger emitting from them. The two planes grew closer and closer until a red symbol appeared in the screen in front of her. She cursed as she recognised it as the bullet proof had been broken through. May didn't think that anything could get through that armour, nothing had in the length of time she'd been flying the Bus anyway. She put an announcement to the team,

"_Bullet proof armour is down."_

May had no time to check where the armour had been broken as the two jets flew close to the cockpit and she tried to see who was flying the planes. What she didn't expect were two planes that had no pilot. They were flying by _themselves_.

"What on earth…" She muttered before watching them gain an inhumane amount of speed, even for the Bus' standards, and disappear from sight. May quickly regained composure from the events that had just taken place and reported to the team over the speaker,

"_They're gone, along with any ideas that we thought the Bus was the most high-tech aircraft out there."_

* * *

Coulson sat with everyone on the team but Skye and heard May's update. He rose from the seat he had taken and ordered to the team,

"Search the bus. We need to find what broke this armour."

The team moved into action, knowing well what could happen if they didn't find the problem soon. Bobbi, Mack and Maria headed towards the lounge area while the others searched the bunks. The second Bobbi walked in, she spotted Skye on the floor, only just regaining consciousness. Bobbi went to her friend's side immediately, helping her to her feet.

"What happened? Are you alright?" Bobbi questioned. Skye paused for a second, maybe too long. It was the first sign Bobbi failed to notice.

"Yeah, I'm good…" Skye said, quietly. Something wasn't right. She was forgetting something…

"Skye?" She heard vaguely through her thought process. Just one more second and-

"No, I mean, yes. Just, something came through the window over there." Skye pointed to the window with the small hole in it. Mack went to inspect it. He felt the slight breeze of air as he stood close to the window.

"This is definitely what broke the bullet proof," He muttered, "What came through? It can't have been that big."

Skye shook her head, "It wasn't but I think when I dived out of the way I must've caught my head on the table because I swear it didn't hit me."

The uncertainty in Skye's voice put Maria on edge. She knew that the hacktivist was confident about most things and if she wasn't she'd at least try to cover her doubts from other people. This different tone didn't reassure Maria at all and she made sure to stay back and quiet so she could observe carefully and not miss any signs.

Bobbi left Skye's side to join Mack by the window and tried to follow its line. As she was, Mack spoke to Skye about going to Simmons to get checked over. She nodded but made no move to go anywhere as she watched Bobbi investigate. Bobbi's eyes raised to Skye's face as if it held more answers. Then she spotted it. The answers were just below Skye's face and on her neck. The exact same thing she saw on Daniel's neck. A chip.

Maria saw Bobbi raise her weapon very slowly and her jaw almost fell to the floor in shock as she pointed it at Skye. Mack too was extremely confused at the turn of events.

"Please don't move, Skye. I don't want to use this." Bobbi whispered as the gun in her hand shook slightly. She refused to be fazed though, as the other agents appeared in the room and took in the scene.

"Morse, what are you doing?" Coulson demanded. He was ignored as one by one, each agent saw what Bobbi saw and raised their own weapons if they held one. Fitzsimmons were unarmed but a part of them was glad that they wouldn't have the memory of aiming a weapon at a close friend. A sister.

As for Skye, she was the last to realise why she was being targeted. Her hand moved up to her neck and she felt the chip. A shiver passed through everyone as her eyes turned a cold, emotionless yet bright shade of blue and her body went tense.

"Skye!" Fitz called out in a desperate hope to get Skye back in the right mind. It worked, as Skye stumbled back a bit and her eyes returned to normal. She had a look of pure terror on her face as the changes in her behaviour were out of her control.

Mack stepped up, hands free of any weapon and face calm and neutral as he addressed everyone, "There's no reason to be so jumpy, is there? We don't need all this. Daniel and Bobbi sat in a room together and he didn't try to make any moves of violence then."

Lance scoffed, "Yep, because putting a knife to someone's throat is completely violence free."

"That was after you interfered." Mack fired back.

"Enough!" Bobbi yelled as she lowered her weapon. She agreed with Mack but they couldn't afford to argue again. Not now.

"We have to get Skye to the interrogation room. We can't risk her hurting…" Coulson halted at the glares he got from some agents, "Herself, of course."

Natasha growled, "You can't isolate somebody because you're scared. That is cowardice."

"I'm not willing to take that risk, Natasha. I make the decisions around here and this is what is going to happen." Coulson said, firmly. There was no room for disagreement as May and Lance escorted Skye to the interrogation room.

May was a firm believer in freedom for everyone who deserved it. Skye deserved it. So May thought that she should voice her opinion before Skye was locked away because she couldn't deal with Skye thinking her S.O was backing up Coulson's view.

"This is wrong. I hope you know that this isn't us abandoning you. Maybe him, yes. But not your family. We'll find a way to fix this, Skye." May finished as the door to the interrogation room opened and Skye stepped through. Her face was expressionless but May could tell she was hurting. Skye's lips moved and May just caught what she said.

"I won't be like them."

Just like that, May knew Skye wouldn't let the chip control her mind. Because she was determined and had faith in the team, her family, to make things right. And they would.

* * *

Thanks for reading.

Sorry it's been a little while again but I promise I won't _ever_ stop writing it. And I have never broken a promise.

Next chapter is the next mission and will introduce a new character. Exciting, no?

This chapter was a little bit everywhere, please forgive me. I hope you weren't too disappointed and positive feedback or constructive criticism is greatly welcomed.

Review if you can.


	15. Damien

Chapter 15 – Damien

Warning for a bit of violence in this one but nothing severe.

Enjoy.

* * *

The Bus had landed safely in Tochi. May had said that she was going to do her best to fix the bullet proof while the Maria, Fitzsimmons and Natasha went on the mission. Lance was backup in one vehicle on one side of the lab college and Bobbi was in another on the other side. Whoever got out of the college first went to Bobbi, the others to Lance. This mission was not about to go like the last one.

"Alright, you two know your covers?" Maria asked Fitzsimmons, who nodded, "Then I guess were ready."

The trio walked to the building. Natasha had gone in about an hour ago to make the situation much less suspicious. She had to find out as much information as possible before 1pm, when Victor Markovic was due to show up. It was 10am now, and it had been one hour already. Comms were up so Maria had full contact if Markovic were to make a surprise appearance.

Maria led the two scientists through the entrance where the security allowed them to pass. A woman walked briskly up to them wearing a suit, much like Maria's, with an award winning smile on her face.

"Hello! You must be the representative, Mrs Sharp, am I correct?" The woman greeted, hand outstretched. Maria gratefully shook it,

"Yes. Nice to meet you."

The woman continued with her introduction. Maria could tell from a mile off that it had been rehearsed a million times before.

"My name is Shannon and I will show you around the college today. We are award-winning with our creative, unique and inspirational ideas. Our technology is more complex than any other in the world," She paused, her eyes settling on Fitzsimmons, "Ah. I almost forgot. You must be…"

Jemma interjected, "My name is Lucy Childs-"

"-And I'm Kenneth Donald." Fitz finished.

Shannon nodded slowly, the sickening smile still plastered on her face, "Of course. The names wouldn't usually be in one's dictionary… they are certainly unique."

Fitz frowned at the comment, having become extremely attached to his new identity and thinking that the name was quite fitting. Simmons elbowed him slightly to remind him to keep his face in character.

"Should we move this along?" Maria urged, sensing a change that she didn't feel was going their way in the mission. Shannon nodded eagerly,

"Right this way."

* * *

Natasha was having no success. The man who was showing her around looked like he'd only stepped out of school two days ago and was useless at providing her with facts of any kind. She held sympathy towards him as he stumbled over his words,

"So, uh, next I guess we can go in… in here? I mean, we definitely can go in here. For sure…" He stuttered, opening a door and awkwardly gestured for Natasha to follow. The room was extremely vast and contained a lot of complex machinery. Natasha could finally see herself getting some answers here.

"So this is our latest project. Uh, as you can see we have-"

"What are you doing in here, Scrap?" A voice barked from a nearby piece of machinery. Natasha saw a large man glaring at the two, scrutinizing their presence. The man next to Natasha visibly paled and choked out his words, nervously,

"I'm, I'm not, this woman, Christina, I need to show her around. Promise I-I wasn't doing any harm, Roman."

The large guy, Roman, looked Natasha up and down patronizingly. Natasha had to do her best to refrain from commenting. Roman looked back to 'Scrap', who shrunk under his gaze,

"You shouldn't be in here. This is confidential work. Who knows if this woman's name is even Christina? You certainly don't." He stated without room for question. Scrap looked as though he wished the ground would swallow him whole. A few other people from around the lab were staring now.

"Sorry, Roman. We'll, uh, we'll leave." Scrap said in a low whisper and with his head bowed, walked back to the door.

Natasha turned to follow him when a loud bang of the door swinging open stopped both in their tracks. Natasha swore she heard a squeak of fear come from Scrap but kept her eye focus on the figure entering the room. Despite it being a well-lit room, she struggled to see who it was because of the glare of the lights in her eyes which she was sure wasn't there a minute ago.

"Well, well, well. Looks like you lot can't do a simple job of keeping people out of here, can you? It's ridiculous really, I thought I picked bright people to work for me." A male voice came as the figure became visible.

And suddenly, Natasha realised just how much trouble she was in as face was matched to name. Victor Markovic was here and he _knew_ they were here.

Aware that she had no chance of contacting Maria on comms without Markovic noticing, Natasha had to stall.

"Hello there, you look like you're the boss around here. Maybe I can finally get some _real_ talk going." She put on her smoothest voice as Markovic approached. He chuckled but there was a knowing edge to his tone that sent shivers around the room.

"I'm sure we can, _Christina._" Markovic spoke loudly to gather the entire room's attention of his presence. Natasha plastered a smile on her face to mask her doubts about the route things were headed and pressed on,

"What kind of projects are you working on? Anything interesting…" She took a casual glance around the area, exaggerating her curiosity when her eyes landed on a certain, familiar machine, "Oh, well this, _this_ looks fabulous."

"It is our newest and most successful design. This is going to be wanted by everyone. When we sell these, we are going to make _money._" Markovic said with a spark in his eye. Natasha nodded along with his mini-speech.

"Very impressive. Care to share details? Promise I won't tell." She purred, convincingly. Or so she thought.

"That wouldn't benefit us at all though, would it? What can you offer us in return?" Markovic sneered, knowing he was putting Natasha on edge. She raised an eyebrow in response but remained silent. Roman piped up again from his nearby position,

"We really shouldn't be giving out information about this, boss. This woman may not be who she says she is."

Markovic looked at Roman for a split second out the corner of his eye before fixing his hard stare on Natasha.

"I know your name is not Christina. I know you are not here to inspect our ideas. I know you are with an organisation that wants to take us down. And I know there is no chance that will happen!" His voice ending with a bellow as it echoed throughout the room.

Natasha tried to keep the mask from slipping but it still melted from her face as the atmosphere darkened.

* * *

Maria, Fitz and Simmons had been following Shannon for a long while now. Fitzsimmons becoming more interested in the science within the lab college while Maria was searching for Natasha by sneaking a glance through any door they passed. She had expected there to be some communication over comms by now but it had been quiet. The fact was unsettling for Maria.

"Unfortunately, this room is currently classified to most of the people in this building. The more skilled you get, the higher rank you get and the more you get to see. That's how it has and always will work," Shannon explained as the stopped by a room with a small window at the top of the door and a sign bolted on it reading 'RANK 7 – Classified', "We should probably move on, looks like they are very busy in there."

Maria internally smirked at how they system here worked very similarly to how S.H.I.E.L.D did. Once Shannon had moved away from blocking the window to seeing inside the classified room, Maria shifted her eyes to look inside. At first, she could only make out a few bodies and some machinery. Then she saw Natasha. And Natasha saw her. The look passed between them spoke so many words but lasted only a second. By now, Shannon had realised the trio weren't following her and called to them,

"We really must move on if we are to finish on time." _It's already too late_, Maria thought to herself before moving towards the other woman. Fitzsimmons stayed where they were as they sensed the change in Maria's plan.

Maria stopped just short of half a metre from Shannon and spoke lowly, "Listen, I'm very sorry I have to do this but I have a feeling you wouldn't have cooperated."

"What-"

Maria cut the woman's question off by giving her a swift knock to the face, gently setting her down to the ground before turning to Fitzsimmons. She vaguely registered the security running at them but focused on giving instructions and getting in the room.

"Bobbi will be waiting and tell her to go as soon as you get in that vehicle. Start thinking about how to remove those chips ASAP. We can't keep knocking people out without a reason." She muttered as Fitzsimmons nodded. As they disappeared from sight and the footsteps grew louder, Maria glided into the classified room, taking on the act of a lost visitor.

"Oh, I am very sorry, I seemed to have got lost." She feigned apology as all eyes fell on her.

Markovic's face went another shade darker if that was even possible. The security guards stopped just behind Maria and Markovic barked an order at them,

"Get this place on lockdown! We have intruders. Anyone who isn't normally here, find them and question them. Who knows how many there are in this place," When they made no move, he raised his voice further, "Come on! You useless bunch of people! All of you!"

"That's a little on the harsh side, don't you think?" Natasha eased her way into the conversation.

Markovic lunged forward and suddenly people were flying everywhere. He went for Natasha and – with some surprising strength – swung with a tightly clenched fist that landed a solid blow to her ribcage. Natasha stumbled backwards in shock more than pain but did acknowledge the sharp sting that replaced the fist. Markovic didn't let up as he shoved her back a couple more steps. His mistake was that he kept advancing and Natasha took her opportunity. Her head slammed forward into his and he was dazed. Those few seconds were all Natasha needed to take advantage. She swept his feet from under him and pinned him to the ground with her deceptive strength. Her words were laced with anger as she spat,

"I would really like to hurt you right now but that isn't my style anymore. I've changed, _Victor_. So should you."

One final smack to the jaw rendered him still and Natasha walked to Maria who had finished her onslaught of scientist who dared to approach her. One of them being Roman who was now writhing on the floor holding his crotch area.

"No mercy, huh?" Natasha asked. Maria nodded,

"He had to be taught somehow."

The talk was interrupted as an alarm blared in their ears and the radios of the unconscious security guards came to life with a crackle.

"_Be on the lookout for any suspicious activity or unknown faces. Trespassers are to be kept detained."_

The two agents shared a look before turning and running out of the door towards the main entrance.

* * *

Bobbi was waiting in the vehicle and watched as Fitzsimmons came running out of the building looking beyond relieved. The back door swung open and the two scientists got seated in the back.

"We have been informed to tell you-"

Bobbi cut in, "Step on it, I know."

She stepped on the gas and the car zipped away from the lab college as Fitzsimmons started to discuss ways of getting the chip removed from people without killing them.

"I suppose we could always hack it off…"

"Gosh, Fitz. That is truly ridiculous, what on earth gave you that idea?"

"Well, it's only a suggestion. If there's no other way then we might have no choice."

"So you think we should tell Agent Hill that she should keep a_ massive saw_ on her to cut the chip of someone's _neck_ in the middle of a public place or during a fight?"

"…"

"…"

"S'pose when you put it like that it doesn't seem like the best way to go about things…"

"Yeah, I didn't think so."

"But still-"

"_Fitz."_

From the front, Bobbi let a smile ghost on her face at the bickering. Sometimes she really did wonder why they weren't together yet.

* * *

Natasha and Maria made it all the way back to the main entrance when they were stopped by the door guards as they attempted to sneak past. They were two large men, one with jet black hair and the other a softer brown. The brown-haired man blocked their path,

"You ladies in a rush?" He asked with a cocky look in his eye because he knew he'd caught the troublers. His fellow guard stayed silent as Maria replied,

"We are late for…" Maria quickly scanned her brain, "The trip south on that coach. We really need to get out there, it's about to leave."

The man shook his head, not believing a word, "We've done the checks already for that trip. There are no more people due."

The dark-haired man stepped forwards now. Natasha felt a sense of familiarity when she looked at his features. For the first time he spoke, in a much deeper voice than the other guard, "I'm sure they are being genuine. We haven't done checks on the other coach yet, Marco."

Marco scoffed, "You kidding? Do you hear these alarms? That means people are trying to get out of here because they are guilty. I'm not letting anybody out." He finished, stubbornly.

"Marco, as much as I respect your passion for this job, I'm afraid we're going to _have_ to let these women out." The dark-haired man insisted. Marco looked confused,

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

The next thing they knew Marco was on the ground and the man was looking at Natasha and Maria carefully.

"You are who I think you are, right?" He asked, then elaborated, "I mean, you are with S.H.I.E.L.D?"

Maria responded, "Yes, how do you know?"

He looked around anxiously, "Look, as you can tell we're all in a bit of a rush to get out of here so could we save this for the journey?"

Natasha raised an eyebrow, "The journey? Invite yourself along, did you?"

"Oh…well…"

Maria chipped in before he got too flustered, "She's just being awkward about it. Let's go."

The man, Maria and Natasha ran out of the building and towards the car where Lance was waiting for them. They entered the vehicle, Maria taking front passenger seat and Natasha and their new ally going in the back.

"Took your time." Lance muttered as he pulled away from the curb.

"We encountered some obstacles." Maria replied, looking back to the new arrival next to Natasha. Lance looked back through the mirror too.

"Oh yeah, who's that?"

Natasha turned to face the man and spoke, "Good question, what is your name?"

The man gave a friendly smile as he answered,

"Damien Locke."

* * *

Thanks for reading : )

Sorry again that it's later than my earlier chapters however it really couldn't be helped this time.

I want to say thanks to all of the reviews, follows and favourites I have got for the duration of this story. I really appreciate your time and feedback so keep 'em coming please!

Tell me what you think about Damien – if you know who he is. He won't be disappearing any time soon and will be a part of Coulson's team from now on.

Review if you can X


	16. Unchipped

Chapter 16 – Unchipped

Enjoy.

* * *

Damien sat in the lounge area of the Bus, waiting for someone to talk to him about his intentions. The rest of the journey in the car a few hours ago had been silent after he revealed his name. It had clicked within the second that he was Daniel Locke's brother and all of the occupants in the vehicle had no more words. It was especially tense considering it was Lance that had caused his death. Damien was still unaware of that fact and kept quiet out of respect for people's thoughts.

When Bobbi was informed that Daniel's brother was on the Bus, she just nodded and walked away. There was no desperation to apologise or send condolences. Or feeling of guilt or sadness. Just an empty nod. Damien was confused when he saw the interaction because of his lack of knowledge on what happened when Daniel died. He figured he could only talk to her after his conversation with May and Coulson who were now walking to him.

They took their seats next to him and he was scrutinized by Coulson for a few seconds before he spoke,

"I'm going to get straight to the point and say you're here because you want to get revenge."

Damien's eyes widened. He didn't expect to be spoken to so bluntly and could only shake his head in response.

"So why are you here? We don't have any more information on Markovic than you do, in fact you probably have more. There must be some reason you didn't stick with that side along with your brother."

Coulson's point was made well as Damien had to think before answering. His reasons were valid, or so he thought. He wanted answers on his brother's death. He wanted to take down the company who brain-washed him to his deathbed. He wanted…

"Revenge," He announced suddenly, "I mean, you're right. I want revenge. My brother was an innocent man till the day he died and I want to salvage that by taking away twice as much evil. Joining S.H.I.E.L.D can help me do that and I can help you too. To be honest, I think we have the same goals here."

"If we had the same goals then we wouldn't hesitate so much to allow you to be a member of S.H.I.E.L.D." May stated, drawing Damien's attention to her spot on the seat next to Coulson.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, is your goal not to destroy Markovic's system to wipe out the world?"

"You're wrong."

"So correct me."

Damien's unwillingness to back down angered May, impressed Coulson and shocked them both. He was a man of great physique and had clear strength that could outmatch a dozen men but that trait didn't usually sit well with disobeying orders. Even Ward had a limit of loyalty and followed every order he was given, despite choosing to side with Garett. Coulson gave a hum of consideration.

"You need to prove yourself trustworthy before anything. We got a decent show of it back at the lab but more specific information would be recommended. What can you tell us about the chips?" Coulson asked.

"Those things are dangerous. They're plugged in with all the data of the person they're targeted for. Markovic picks his people and the scientists do the work. I don't know who puts them in the neck but I've seen it happen."

"So have we." May whispered.

Damien looked through narrowed eyes, "Your team being targeted?"

Coulson nodded, "A member of our team was chipped while we were in flight. Our bullet proof was shattered straight through and that's never happened before. She was knocked unconscious and one of our other agents noticed the chip on her neck. We've had to keep her in the interrogation room."

"Well, another test of trustworthy for you. I can disable those things. It uses this," He took out a small device with numbers 0-9 on it, "There's a code for whatever you want to do. I tried it on Marco and it worked but they re-chipped him within the hour, they will know if we take that chip off."

May and Coulson shared a look of worry before turning to Damien. He looked eager to help and was open and honest in his face which settled May's initial negative emotions towards him.

"Do it. If they find us again we'll be more prepared." Coulson ordered. May's face remained unchanged at the decision but inside was glad that she would be able to talk to Skye again. She had a soft spot for the young woman who was once seen as a threat to S.H.I.E.L.D and that was a fact that was kept to herself.

Coulson and May led Damien to the interrogation room. He explained that all he had to do was scan the chip and enter the code then the chip will detach. May insisted that she goes into the room with Damien for moral support. Coulson was sceptical that Skye needed someone to cling to, and slightly confused at May's sudden affection but allowed them both to go in. He decided his authority wasn't needed anymore and made his way back to his office.

* * *

Skye sat stone still at the single table that was in the centre of the room she had been put into for so many hours now she couldn't count. A numbness had settled in her heart from her conflicting emotions like all the colours in a rainbow blending to white- to nothing. The sooner she got out of here, the better.

The empty feeling stemmed from the abandon she experienced growing up. Skye had built up a wall of trust within the small team they had on the Bus and that wall had been knocked down because of some mind-controlling chip that was embedded into her neck. It was all too similar to when Coulson put the bracelet on her. She could only hope that they understood she wasn't betraying them and they would move on when the chip was removed.

The door to her right opened but Skye's eyes stayed fixed on the table in front of her. What surprised her was the two sets of footsteps she heard approaching. The seat in front of her was pulled back and an unfamiliar figure sat before her. She raised her head to observe the stranger in front of her. The confusion on her face must have been obvious as May – who stood a foot away from the table – explained,

"This is Damien. We met him on the mission at the lab college. He claims to be able to remove the chip."

Skye took in the information while Damien introduced himself, "Hi. I'm Damien, you're Skye. Nice to meet each other and all the rest of it but I'm here to stop your mind from becoming controlled so we better get on with it sooner rather than later."

May scowled. Damien's character wasn't giving the best impression on her so far. However Skye seemed to perk up at the man's sense of humour and the news that she would be able to get the device off her neck.

"We better get on with it then."

* * *

The phone ringing blared in the cramped office space that Victor Markovic occupied. He forcefully snatched up the phone into his large hand and barked down the line,

"What?"

"You don't seem very happy, Victor. Are you missing me? Don't fret, I'm just doing the dirty work while you pretend to be in charge of the process. Keeping up the good work, yes?"

Markovic's anger dissipated in a millisecond and he became extremely quiet and unlike his normal aggressive exterior. He cleared his throat before he spoke,

"Everything is under control here, Mr Lukin. We've had a couple of issues but nothing that hasn't been resolved."

"I hope so because I plan on dropping in very soon. You can tell me all about those_ issues_."

"Soon?"

"Very, _very_ soon."

While Markovic gulped as he put down the phone, somewhere else in the country, Peter Lukin let out a low, dark chuckle as he leaned back in his chair. His thoughts drifted to the day his plan was going to unfold and when the jigsaw would be complete. The pieces were just setting into place.

"They won't know what hit them."

* * *

Thanks for reading.

The aim here was to introduce Damien's personality a little bit and the dynamic between Peter and Victor. I'm trying to get my quality of writing better than it has been because I am aware it hasn't been great.

Thanks to whoever is still reading out there and there's more to come soon.

Review if you can.


	17. Budding relationships

Chapter 17 – Budding relationships

Enjoy.

* * *

Punch.

Jab.

Punch.

Jab.

The sweat built up fast as Bobbi repeatedly hit the defenceless punch bag dummy in an attempt to clear her thoughts. Her moves were still swift and precise as the events swirled in her head. Daniel's death. Meeting Damien. Damien being Daniel's _brother_…

As if he was summoned, the newest addition to the team strolled into the cargo area where Bobbi was not letting up on the punches. Damien was officially recruited to the team as of about an hour ago and while Coulson got everything sorted for him and Skye had disappeared with May, he decided it was best to meet someone new to talk to.

His feet had guided him to the sound of the punch bag, a sound he was used to as he trained as often as possible. To say Damien was surprised to see Bobbi there was an understatement, his first interaction with her didn't give off the impression she was a fighter.

"What, do you want a picture or something?" Bobbi voice cut through his train of thought and he realised she wasn't hitting the dummy anymore.

"No, not at all," Damien said, apologetically, "I was just surprised to see you here."

Bobbi frowned, "Why?"

Damien quickly saw his mistake and corrected, "I seemed to have got a false impression. I can see you're a skilled fighter."

Bobbi puffed out a breath of disbelief but said nothing more. Damien realised they'd got off on the wrong foot and backtracked,

"I should introduce myself properly. I'm Damien and-"

"I know who you are."

Bobbi's uninviting cold tone wasn't going to put him off as he stepped closer to her. He'd learnt a long time ago now that impatience got you nowhere.

"You do any martial arts?" Damien asked. Bobbi's eyes almost popped out with the force of the shock she felt,

"Is that a serious question?" She replied with. Damien smiled and gestured with his hand to the space in front of him. Bobbi raised an eyebrow at the offer.

"I would, but we're in flight and we only usually do hand to hand combat on the ground. Sorry." She said. Damien laughed,

"Can I ask you a question?" Bobbi nodded, "Have you ever broken the rules?"

A mischievous smile graced Bobbi's features and she walked to the space that Damien gestured to a second ago.

"Alright then."

* * *

Natasha, Maria, Fitz and Simmons were all in the lab, analysing a chip that Maria had grabbed from a machine before they fled from the lab college the day before. It was getting late already and no clues had been obvious to tell the difference from the other chip that had been taken by Natasha next to Daniel's body.

"This," Natasha looked at a watch that wasn't there, "Has been going on for a good, well, _decade_ now and we haven't found a thing. I could either stay here and look for something that isn't there or I could go and train so that next time we have a job to do we can do it _right_. I'm really leaning towards the latter option at the minute."

Maria's eyes narrowed, "Natasha, this is important."

"So is my sanity."

"It sure is good to know where your priorities lie." Maria said with fake humour.

Natasha scoffed, "My priorities are helping Coulson's team take down a psychopath who wants to create a world of murdering robots! This little activity you have going on here won't help us achieve that, Maria."

"If that's how you really feel then just leave. No one is forcing you to stay." Maria replied.

"Only ten minutes ago you very kindly screamed at me to stand, and I quote, 'as though my feet are nailed to the ground'."

"I did not scream, Natasha."

As the back and forth comments continued, Fitz and Simmons were attempting to cover up their amusement. They leant closer in to the small device that lay before them and whispered words through quiet laughter,

"It's so obvious. More than they say we are." Simmons spoke. Fitz snorted at the comment,

"I don't think we even bicker half as much as they do."

"The levels of sexual tension are sky-rocketing in parts of the world. _This _is how S.H.I.E.L.D fell."

The two lab experts erupted in laughter and hadn't realised that Maria and Natasha had finalised their dispute and were staring at them with looks of confusion. Turning around slowly, they saw the expressions and it only heightened their giggle fit. Natasha was first to speak and zoned in on Fitz,

"What so funny, scientist?" She hissed, threateningly. However, Fitz wasn't the slightest bit fazed when he replied,

"You two are far worse than us two."

Simmons nodded in agreement, "That flirting," She pointed at them, "was so blatant, we saw it."

Maria's eyebrows shot sky high. She was an agent, a fully trained agent and former deputy director and even she didn't realise. She and Natasha had been working very closely and it had caused their relationship to become closer than before. That didn't stop Maria from being convinced that their arguments were purely friendly jabs. There was no way they were like-

"Like an old married couple!" Fitz hollered.

No. Way.

Meanwhile, Natasha was trying to control the tornado of thoughts in her head. It had not been that long since her once strong romance with Clint had come to an end, but having Maria show up so soon after had taken her mind of it for a while. Fitzsimmons observation of their behaviour only served to remind her of the events before reuniting with S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Natasha? Earth is calling and they need you back." Maria joked as she pulled the woman from her mind.

Natasha forced a smile, "Very funny, now where were we with this device-thing."

"Uh, you were just saying how much you thought it was a waste of time, actually." Simmons piped up. Natasha shrugged and moved towards the lab table, keeping eye contact low.

"It can't hurt to try."

Maria was surprised but just sighed in bewilderment at the whirlwind of a story that was called 'Natasha Romanoff' and watched the Russian spy for a moment,

"One day I will understand you."

* * *

Thanks for reading.

If you didn't know before, I will tell you now. Maria and Natasha will be in a romantic relationship in the near future in this fic.

Next chapter will have Lance and Bobbi's chat with Damien and more about him will be revealed.

Any suggestions on scenes you want to happen are welcome in a review or PM. Thanks to those who do read each chapter and review, it keeps the writing mind at work. : )


	18. Revelation

Chapter 18 – Revelation

Enjoy.

* * *

Lance whistled quietly as he walked through the Bus to find Bobbi. They hadn't spoken properly since the argument that had resulted in deep-cutting insults being thrown at each other. Damien's appearance had made it more important to talk to Bobbi soon as things got more complicated.

He made his way through to cargo where he found who he was looking for – and Damien. The two looked like they were having a good enough time practicing martial arts that Lance almost turned around to walk back out. But he stayed. Lance fought every nerve in his body telling him to turn back and pressed on towards the scene he hated to watch.

"Um, hey," Lance announced his presence reluctantly, "Sorry to interrupt. I can see you guys were very busy."

Bobbi and Damien whipped around to face him, both slightly out of breath. Lance didn't want to even let his mind wander, not when Bobbi was involved. When neither of them spoke, he continued,

"I just wanted to talk to Bob. If that isn't too much to ask."

Damien raised his eyebrows at the two and a knowing look passed over his features. The suddenly very awkward atmosphere made him eager to leave the cargo area sooner rather than later.

"Hey, I should probably go and see if Coulson has my stuff sorted out anyway. We can do this again some other time." Damien suggested to Bobbi who immediately shook her head,

"No. I mean, if Hunter wants to talk about what I think he wants to talk about then I think you should stay." She explained. Lance didn't look too overjoyed but understood his conversation one on one with Bobbi would have to wait. Again.

"Sure," He sighed, dreading Damien's reaction to the news they were about to drop on him. Bobbi lead the trio to the lounge area where they sat, waiting for someone to say the first word.

Eventually, Damien was the one to break the silence, "So was it you that killed my brother?"

Both heads shot up at the question, eyes wide, speechless. Even more so when they found the question was directed at Bobbi. Damien picked up on the emotion and expanded,

"I know that you were there from the way you reacted when you were told I was here. So I just put one and two together…"

"And you got five," Lance interrupted, "Bobbi didn't kill Daniel."

"Then who did? All the information I was given leads to-"

"It was me."

The temperature dropped several degrees. Bobbi swore she felt the chill of the ice cold stare of Damien's eyes reach her spine. She almost regretted not getting May or Natasha or even Maria for back up. _Almost._

"I made a mistake, I acted on impulse and it resulted badly. Trust me, I got enough grief from the team already." Lance muttered. Damien blew out a long breath to calm himself before he trusted his voice to speak,

"A mistake? That's the explanation you got? You're kidding." He scoffed lightly, a hand ran across his face restlessly.

Bobbi leaned forward in her seat to get closer to Damien, "Do you want the details?"

His gaze locked onto hers and he nodded, hesitantly but something told Bobbi he was sure. So she started right from the beginning, when she met Daniel all those years ago and he wasn't under Markovic's control and he didn't want to hurt people. He wanted to save them. Bobbi relayed the conversations they'd had and the adventures they went on. Damien was hooked onto each word. Lance was also shocked that Bobbi and Daniel were that close, more than he had first realised.

The tricky part came when Bobbi spoke about the day Daniel died. The sadness was more prominent in her tone as it was in Damien's eyes. Lance dipped his head in shame and regret as she recalled that day,

"It was going smoothly. I was getting what I needed. The information to take down Markovic as well as a good conversation with a friend. But the more I spoke to him the more obvious it got that he had changed and I couldn't do anything about it."

"You could have brought him here." Damien cut in. Bobbi nodded,

"We could have. But I guess I'm too loyal to this team that I didn't want to do anything drastic, you know?" She threw a look to Lance. Damien nodded and urged her to continue.

"A man came into the house, Tomas, he was chipped too but didn't say or do much. It was only a matter of seconds after that Hunter came through, Tash and Skye behind him. It all kicked off then and Daniel disappeared. He came back and held a knife to my throat," Her voice broke and her words were laced with heartache, "I really tried to talk him out of it and…and if it had just waited one more second…"

Damien's face creased, "If what had waited?"

Bobbi looked away and remained silent. Lance knew what she wanted to say and so plucked up the courage to say it himself,

"If _I_ had waited. Daniel was letting go of her when I pulled the trigger. I was too focused on the fact he had her at knifepoint in the first place to register that-"

"It's okay."

Lance got whiplash his head moved so sharply to face Damien who had uttered words that neither Lance nor Bobbi were expecting. There was a period of silence before Damien went on,

"It's clear that you weren't killing him in cold blood, not really. And no matter how angry I may get at you in the next few weeks because I still can't just forget that you killed my brother – but just remember that I understand, okay?"

Lance nodded and abruptly stood up, "Thanks for getting it."

Damien gave him a nod before turning back to Bobbi as Lance walked away. She was struggling to hold back the tears again and he empathised through his own expression.

"You haven't grieved yet, have you?" He stated more than asked but Bobbi replied anyway,

"There is no time around here. I'm a trained agent, I can't have these weaknesses following me day after day. Other people on this Bus have been through so much worse and come back fighting, why can't I?"

"You are human. So are they. Somebody died right in front of you – no one walks away pain-free." Damien reminded her.

"So many people have died in front of me before and I felt nothing. I thought I _wasn't_ human. Then this happens and it's all changed. Suddenly I have emotion." Bobbi whispered.

Damien shook his head at her words, "No, you always had emotion. But you never had time to care for the other people who died before. You had time to care for Daniel and so it hurt when he was ripped away."

Bobbi laughed without the happiness, "How are you so collected?"

He smiled sadly at both of their sorrows and answered with honesty,

"I had time to grieve."

* * *

Thanks for reading.

So it might not have been what you were expecting but I didn't want a heated battle between Lance and Damien because Damien isn't a character that acts impulsively or in anger. I hope this reflects that.

Thanks for the reviews. Any suggestions on scenes or random ideas are welcomed and I'll do my best to get them in.

Next time the team will be hit with another boulder that comes in the shape of a certain Clint Barton.

Until next time, review if you can. : )


	19. Wait and see

Chapter 19 – Wait and see

Enjoy.

* * *

"Nat, you in there?" Bobbi called through the door to Natasha's bunk that remained silent well into the morning of that Saturday. It was a habit of Natasha's to 'sleep' in on Saturdays but that didn't stop Bobbi from pounding her fist on the door once again.

"Hey, wake up! This is really important." She tried, louder. A groan of annoyance was heard from inside and eventually the door slid open to reveal a very much awake but grouchy Natasha. Bobbi rolled her eyes at the expression.

"You weren't even sleeping, I know that," She stated before turning serious, "You're going to want to see this, by the way."

The woman in front of her sighed with an exaggerated amount of grief but had been planted with a seed of curiosity that she couldn't ignore. Bobbi was already walking away and Natasha came to the conclusion that whatever it was had to be important enough for someone to disturb her Saturday morning peace.

They ended up at the briefing room, everyone else on the team looking confused or worried as they stared up at the screen. Natasha followed their gaze and couldn't refrain from gasping aloud at the image of Clint staring back at her. Coulson's eyes were drawn away by the sound and found her staring back at him expectantly.

"What's going on?" She demanded. The team's attention was all of a sudden on her.

"This message has been sent to all of the S.H.I.E.L.D screens across the globe. Clint's been trying to get this message to us."

Natasha moved forward to press the play button and Clint's face came to life. The video was clear as day and Clint looked as though he hadn't changed a bit since she walked out on him not so long ago. The oxygen was knocked out of her as he began to speak,

"It's Hawkeye here, I have about 40 seconds to tell you that I have information that can benefit your mission against Victor Markovic. Anyone not a part of Coulson's team needs to turn this message off because if you watch it to the end it will send out a signal straight to Markovic and you'll be dead within 24 hours. Coulson, Natasha, anyone, expect a visit from me soon. I haven't decided whether I want to play dirty or not yet."

The video cut off and left Natasha speechless. Only for a second though. Then she went full on rage.

"He is so pathetic, he just wants revenge so he's going to blackmail us into doing something so we can get information that he doesn't have because he is bluffing. Clint is with Markovic, we can't let him compromise us." She finished. Bobbi asked the question on everyone's minds,

"Why would he want revenge?"

Natasha glanced over at May, the only person who knew of her and Clint splitting up. May only raised an eyebrow and so Natasha had to tell the truth.

"Clint and I parted ways when I got this mission. We were driving each other insane and I thought it would be best if I walked. So I did. I was under the impression that he agreed with the decision, though."

"Maybe he's genuine." Skye offered.

"That'll be the day." Natasha muttered sarcastically. Bobbi frowned,

"He isn't that bad, Natasha. You've done much worse."

"Because I was undercover. He just manipulates you into thinking you've done wrong when he's at fault." She argued.

"Nat," Bobbi said in a warning tone, "Let's not go back there."

Natasha released a breath she didn't realise she was holding and was only making her more tense. Her features turned remorseful as she apologised,

"I'm sorry. It's just," Her hands gestured to the screen randomly, "I don't know."

She left the briefing room to return to her bunk, leaving an apprehensive atmosphere in the other room. Coulson turned to his team and took on his leading role once again,

"This is a situation we have no control over and the only thing we can do about it is to carry on with our intended mission. If Agent Barton has information of use then great, we'll grab it. But we don't need it. I need Fitzsimmons to keep examining the chips with Mack. Damien, Bobbi and Maria to train for your lives and May, the plane. I'll be with Agent Romanoff if I'm needed. Let's go."

They separated their different ways and Coulson followed Natasha's footsteps to her bunk. The door was open, surprisingly, and she was sitting on her bed, glaring at her hands. He invited himself in and stood above the other agent.

"Agent Romanoff, we need to talk." He said and she scoffed,

"Oh, I did wonder why you were standing in my room like you are. All my questions have been answered. Hurrah." She spoke, monotonously. Coulson decided to take a more personal approach. He moved to sit beside her on the bed.

"Natasha," He began, "It must be hard to hear from Clint like that. It shocked me too, and Bobbi. Even Maria was a little shaken."

Natasha's body tensed at the mention of Maria's name but her eye level stayed low. Coulson's suspicions about the issue were being confirmed, Natasha was concerned Clint was going to jeopardize the growing relationship between herself and Maria. He was a threat that Natasha couldn't prevent.

"Listen, this Bus is protected well and we always have eyes everywhere on missions. If Barton tries anything, we'll know about it within a second. He isn't a danger-"

"I know he isn't a danger!" Natasha interrupted, fiercely. Her eyes blazed with anger as they finally met Coulson's, "He's not a danger to anyone but me. You don't understand the endless arguments we got into because I wouldn't hug him or, or sleep in the same room as him or phone him because I was going to be away a little longer than I thought. He wanted attention that I couldn't give him because…"

"Because?" Coulson urged her to explain.

"Because I was attacked. On a mission with Bobbi, I was attacked by a group of horrible, vile men. Clint was back up but the men got away before he got there. I told Bobbi not to tell him how much I was affected by it to save my own pride and independence. It only succeeded to make things worse and more strained between us."

Coulson sat back in shock. For a man who was director of S.H.I.E.L.D and had access to top files, he sure didn't know as much as he thought he did. No top secret file would reveal this.

"You should have told me." Was all he could say.

"What would you have done?" Natasha asked, quietly, the fight leaving her body long ago.

He sighed, "Something. Anything to help you."

"You would have ended up like Bobbi and I. I drove people away and I'm actually glad you weren't there. I was a right tart."

Coulson let out a short laugh at the words before returning solemn, "That's why you and Bobbi were frosty at the start of this. It makes sense now."

Natasha nodded and then the two sat in silence for a while. One thinking about the silent pain a co-worker – a friend – had been through and the other about how one man could turn her life upside down with one visit.

"What are we going to do?" Natasha broke into their silence. Coulson shrugged,

"Wait and see."

* * *

Thanks for reading.

Just a quick note that I'm currently planning another story for this fandom, not posted yet but could slow this process down a bit more. I'll do my best to update this regularly for those who are still reading out there. Thanks for the reviews and follows, if I'm doing anything wrong or you want something adding in then just tell me and it'll be done to the best of my ability.

Till next time, review if you can.


	20. Clint

Chapter 20 – Clint

Enjoy.

* * *

May was in deep thought. There was only so much she could take of the main area of the Bus, especially with the population growing by the second with the newest addition of Damien. He'd settled in easily and was getting along with pretty much everyone but herself. She was stubborn, he was stubborn and it was clashing. The relationship was much like her and Lance's but in comparison she had more respect for Lance and his willpower to put up with Bobbi for so long. Despite liking Bobbi a lot, May knew how she would've been back when they were married. Damien was yet to prove such strength.

As she mused, an aircraft appeared in the radar, heading straight for the Bus as it gained height. May could almost instantly tell who it was and reported over the speakers,

"_Brace yourselves, we have company. Barton's here."_

She imagined the unnecessary panic happening in parts of the Bus as they prepared for the unexpected to happen. Clint Barton may be out for revenge but that didn't make him any more threatening to the team. The only person not to know Clint at all was Damien and May thought of how he was most likely freaking out.

* * *

"Natasha, please. If you're going to curse, English would work nicely so I know it isn't about me." Damien repeated. The Russian next to him glared before continuing to mutter in her native language. He sighed and resumed contemplating the situation as the team waited for Clint to come down the stairs after he docked.

He knew he had an advantage over the majority of the Bus because Clint had no information on him to get under his skin. There was a possibility he would play the 'new guy' card on him and drone on to call him weak, but Damien got the vibe from Clint's video that he was coming for a purpose.

A voice next to him broke into his thoughts, "There really is no need for you to be here, you know."

Damien tilted his head towards Lance who continued to speak.

"I mean, I say that in the nicest way possible Clint isn't going to want an audience when he gets down here. To be honest he only wants Natasha and with more people here it could cause more problems…"

Lance trailed off as he waited for a response from Damien who nodded along with his words. A small period of silence passed before he spoke,

"Then why are you here?"

Lance's jaw opened to reply but no sound came out. His eyes flickered towards Bobbi then back to the space in front of him he was gazing at before giving an uneasy smile to Damien.

"I guess we're even."

The room slipped into quiet anticipation for a moment before a clang from above dragged in a wave of fresh tension and bodies visibly tensed. Heavy footsteps met each step of the staircase, leading to the waiting team below. Step by step, the newcomer was slowly revealed until he was staring them in the face.

Clint's eyes rested on Natasha first. She fought his gaze and tried to draw her eyes away but they remained fixed to his. The other agents in the room also seemed to be muted so only Damien, and surprisingly, Bobbi remained able to communicate with him. Bobbi stepped in front of Natasha to block Clint's view of her with her own body.

"Stop it, Clint." She said in a low tone but sounded just as serious and intimidating than if she had raised her voice. His features twisted into a smile that looked horribly untrustworthy.

"Stop what? I only want to look at the woman who I've loved and not stopped loving since the day I set eyes on her."

"Oh please." Bobbi scoffed in disbelief.

Clint continued, "And you. It's been a while since we've spoken, Bobbi. In fact, the last time I saw you was-"

"I know when and where it was and they don't need to!" Bobbi interrupted sharply, gesturing to her team. Clint raised an eyebrow but said no more. The curious looks at Bobbi also put her off from saying anything else as her glare spoke a thousand words she wished she could voice at Clint in that moment. Coulson felt like it was a fair time to interrupt,

"I'm going to say it how it is because from this discussion and your video I think it's the only way we're going to get any form of cooperation from you. Do you have information about our mission that could provide use to us or not, Barton?" He spoke clearly and his words left no trace of hesitation for Clint to cling onto in his reply.

However, Clint still refused to give a straight answer, "If I don't, what kind of punishment is in store?"

Coulson's eyes were hard and unwavering as he answered, "We move on. Ignore the fact that you even stepped on this plane. There is no more time to waste because we don't know when Markovic is putting his plan into place. So answer the damn question."

The atmosphere dropped. Clint's head was nodded in acceptance rather than defeat but finally said what they had wanted to hear.

"I was debating whether my information was going to be any use anyway, I was using it as more of an excuse than anything. But what I found was that Victor Markovic isn't the man he says he is. He doesn't run this operation."

Damien frowned, "Then who does?"

Clint stared at the owner of the new voice but voted against questioning him right now considering the impatience of the director stood in front of him.

"I suspect a man named Peter Lukin. I listened into a phone conversation between him and Victor Markovic and by hearing the dynamic between them, I think Markovic is working for this guy. I traced the call and came up with nothing but I tracked him down and got some samples of what could be his DNA," Clint reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a tube, "Figured you would have some kind of scientist to analyse it."

Coulson nodded to Fitzsimmons and Simmons took the tube from Clint before the both of them disappeared to the lab. Clint seemed to have finished giving the information that he had to offer so that left only one thing to do.

"You can leave now."

Clint looked not far from outrage at the statement. He gives them what they want and this is the thanks he gets?

"You can't be serious, Coulson. You have to let me talk to Natasha at least." He refused to plead, but the element of desperation lingered in his tone.

"At least?" Bobbi cut in, "That's probably the worst thing you could do right about now. I don't know if you realise but we have the upper hand, not you."

"You and I both know that isn't true." Clint declared loudly, making sure that every agent in the room heard his words to out Bobbi for the second time since he came onto the plane.

Bobbi surged forwards but only got so far before Lance had appeared in front of her to stop her from getting near Clint and Natasha had grabbed her arm. Bobbi took a deep breath and turned to look at Natasha who watched her with a concerned gaze. Maria, who had been quiet throughout a large quantity of the past day, looked as though she wanted to help but moved no further than half a metre from the corner she had been standing in. Instead, she used words to offer her help,

"How about we take a few steps back. Clint claimed to have information, we said we'd accept it if he did. He had the information and we got it. Moving past the mind games he hasn't done anything immediately wrong for us to just kick him out. I say we let him talk to Natasha if she wants to." She finished.

Natasha looked over at Maria with a hint of confusion in her eyes. Coulson eyed the two of them, knowing what Natasha was thinking. Their conversation after Natasha had been shown the video of Clint had been unspoken of and so Maria didn't know that Clint could harm the growing relationship between her and Natasha. On the flip side, Coulson didn't know if Maria felt the same way as Natasha did for her, despite the obvious signs.

"What do you say, Nat?" Clint urged, not even sparing Maria a thanking glance. Natasha forced herself to push past the uneasy feeling settling in the pit of her stomach and spoke,

"Okay, let's talk."

* * *

Thanks for reading.

First off, I'm major sorry for not updating in 3 weeks. It's been pretty hectic is all I'll say. I hope that someone out there still has the patience in them to keep reading!

Thanks again to everyone who reads and the reviews!


	21. Inhuman

Chapter 21 – Inhuman

Enjoy.

* * *

Bobbi slid down the wall to the small amount of floor space that her room provided and let out a steady breath that she'd held when she left the rest of the team with Clint after Natasha had agreed to talk with him. It wasn't that Bobbi had a problem with it, she was only protective of Natasha because she knew how Clint could get when he didn't get what he wanted. Natasha was strong, emotionally and physically, she could manipulate people and had been one of S.H.I.E.L.D's greatest agents. But if she loves you enough, your actions could cut through her heart like a knife.

She ran her hands over her face roughly in an attempt to free her mind from the problems floating around the Bus. As she did, voices could be heard not far from where she sat, and she anticipated an onslaught of questions from the other agents about some of the stuff that Clint had said. Instead, Lance appeared from around the corner and peered down at her from the doorway.

"Surprised you chose the floor over the bed." He said, lightly. Bobbi tilted her head and raised an eyebrow,

"You kidding? You know I'm not one for sleeping unless I've been knocked unconscious."

Lance smiled, "Of course I do." He sat himself down in by the doorway. They were quiet for a period of time before he spoke again,

"I hope you don't mind me bringing this up right now but I've been trying to talk to you for a long while. Things kept coming up like missions, Clint and… Damien," He stopped himself from getting off-track, "We haven't been on the best of terms lately and I want to clear everything up sooner rather than later."

"You're right." Bobbi agreed. Lance looked carefully at her. There was no way that Bobbi was being so accepting. Not a chance.

"That's great and all, Bob, but do you understand the mess we've made of ourselves?"

"I understand, Hunter. It's just hard when things are happening so fast you can't comprehend it and by the time you try to, something else has arrived. So I'm sorry if you feel a little hard done by but the 'mess' won't be cleared in one sitting. I think deep down you know that too." Bobbi ended.

Lance knew it. It was just hard to accept it. He held a lot of love for this woman and it was hard to reel it back at times. It was lucky that she was more controlled than him.

"Yeah sure, one more thing though," He paused, not sure if he was ready to throw around accusations yet, "Just, no more lies right? Clint said some stuff out there that got me thinking but I'm trusting you enough and I'm gonna forget about it."

Bobbi smiled her thanks but couldn't help but look away guiltily. If Lance noticed then he didn't say anything, choosing to change the topic to a lighter subject.

"Got any snacks?"

"Hunter, seriously. Food right now?" Bobbi said, incredulously. Lance shrugged,

"Why not, any time is good for food… and drink. Definitely drink."

Bobbi laughed as she stood up and reached out her arm for him to take.

"Come on then."

* * *

"So how's it been?" Clint asked as he sat opposite Natasha in the lounge area, "Working with S.H.I.E.L.D again can't exactly be a walk in the park."

She watched him with an expression that gave no clues to what she felt. In all honesty, she didn't know what to feel. The last thing she'd expected was a civil chat when Clint arrived which now left her unprepared.

"S.H.I.E.L.D's been good. Coulson has been welcoming, as have the rest of this team. No regrets." She replied. Clint nodded with a hint of a knowing smile on his face.

"You've moved on, I saw it in your eyes when you said that." He said.

Natasha tried to keep her face under control but struggled as a million questions shot through her brain at how on earth Clint was so observing. Her response was only to muster a stuttered sentence of disagreement,

"No way, Barton. There's no way we are talking about my love life. My non-existent love life."

Clint put his hands up in surrender however it didn't stop him from continuing to pester Natasha, "So who's the lucky guy this time?" He faltered when he thought about the options, "It's not that tall guy, is it?"

"What, Mack? He's almost like a brother, which would be weir-"

"Not him, I recognise Mack from when Bobbi and I were closer. The other tall one, haven't seen him before." Clint cut in. Natasha had to think for another moment before she could answer,

"Damien. Wow, that's a little far-fetched don't you think? Not my type at all. In fact, I think Agent Skye has a liking for him…" Natasha mused.

Clint pulled a face, "All right, all right, I don't need the love information of everyone in this place. If it isn't him though, I can't imagine you're pairing up with Coulson or Lance so that only leaves the women. You and Melinda getting a bit-"

"Woah there. Let's not get carried away, shall we? How about move along?" It was Natasha's turn to stop Clint from going any further with his process of thought, not only because it was awkward and embarrassing but if he got any closer to the truth, it would mean he got closer to being able to jeopardize it.

Clint stopped the hassling and his features turned more serious and somewhat _sad_. He looked at Natasha and she looked back at him. An odd sense of déjá vu washed over them both as the glance was much like the one they shared on the day they had parted.

"If you have moved on, Tasha, we won't be going on the missions like we used to. It kinda pains me to think that we'll never be partners again." He spoke softly. The Russian smoothed out her gaze as the realisation hit her too. Then another idea struck and the expression had a spark to it again.

"There is one more chance. If the evidence you gave us is good, then we could use another pair of hands." She suggested. Clint blew out a breath and sat back as he considered the offer.

"I wouldn't stay on this plane. I wouldn't take orders from S.H.I.E.L.D or Coulson. I wouldn't do anything that gets me into too much of a situation because, without S.H.I.E.L.D, I have no extraction team – no defence. Things go south and I'm out," He stated before a half-grin covered his face, "But other than that, I'm in."

* * *

"No, no, no, no. This can't be right." Simmons frowned at the results in front of her, hoping somehow that they would change. Fitz tried to peer over her shoulder but instead Simmons spun around and waved the results in his face.

"This, this is not scientifically possible for a human's DNA! In the long time we have worked for S.H.I.E.L.D, there have been very unusual happenings. But this looks worryingly familiar yet so wrong because S.H.I.E.L.D should have stopped this years ago. The technology was locked away forever and I don't understand how-"

Fitz grabbed the papers off Simmons, "Let me have a look."

His confusion got increasingly evident on his face as Simmons was nodding at him, finally happy that they shared the same opinion about the data.

"This is- this is… um, it's…" Fitz struggled for the word. Simmons carried on rambling,

"Crazy! It's crazy and quite frankly completely out of our knowledge range to deal with. Scientists from decades ago even struggled with such DNA. It was…" She stopped, her and Fitz's eyes locked, both had the same word in their mind.

"No, it can't be…" Simmons breathed. Fitz could only nod. They then whispered the word on the tips on their tongues, a slightly scary revelation,

"Inhuman."

* * *

Thanks for reading.

I'm trying to create my own angle of inhuman in this story, bear with me if it doesn't quite make sense yet.

Tell me what you think :)


	22. Trouble just walked in

Chapter 22 – Trouble just walked in

Enjoy.

* * *

"How can this be possible?"

"I-I don't…"

"Is there even _any_ kind of scientific explanation at all?"

"I'm really not-"

"Unbelievable! Fitz, how is he alive?"

"Jemma, please. _I don't know_." Fitz emphasized for what he swore was going to be the last time. Simmons halted her pacing and turned to look at him with an overly-panicked look.

"How are we going to tell the director about this? He'll think we're bonkers! Completely bonkers!" She exclaimed, oblivious to the figure now standing behind her. Fitz had seen the figure and was now scratching the back of his head with a pained look on his face, anticipating the upcoming freak-out from Simmons.

"What would the director think you're bonkers about?" The figure spoke and Simmons almost got whiplash from spinning around so quickly.

"Sir! I was just talking about…"

Coulson smirked but kept the teasing to a minimum. Simmons looked like a distraught child who had been caught stealing from the cookie jar, after all.

"The truth, Simmons. It can't be that worrying."

Fitz shook his head in disagreement and provided his opinion, "If this is what we think then it hasn't been seen for many years. No one could understand it and so the technology was all destroyed."

Simmons continued, "Peter Lukin's DNA that Clint collected has major structural disruption and is quite surreal. I recommend we discuss this as a team, sir."

Coulson frowned a little. The joking aside now, Fitzsimmons seemed genuinely concerned about this DNA and he trusted their judgement completely.

"Okay, briefing room in 5."

* * *

The team had gathered in the briefing room. Clint had joined them, partly because it was his evidence and partly so Natasha could see if it was legit or not to see if Clint was honest. Simmons had gathered herself finally, and stood with the results as she spoke,

"The results are very different to what a normal human's would have shown. What Agent Barton found is DNA from a man who is incredibly enhanced and inhuman, but unlike the other people we've come across, this DNA shows that he wasn't born inhuman, he made himself inhuman."

As the team took in what Simmons was saying, Fitz explained what he knew about the technology, "Electrical tech would have been used which is literally electric shocks through the body to enhance cells and completely transform DNA. The user becomes 'superhuman' until they need another round of shocks when the cells start to go back to normal. It's pretty cool stuff if it wasn't so destructive. The structure of the DNA Simmons analysed shows that they have only been recently strengthened and won't need to use electrical tech for a couple of weeks."

A quiet passed over the room as they processed all of the information. Mack was discreetly smiling for Fitz, it was the first time he'd heard him speak so fluently for that long. Simmons was silently proud too, and chalked it up to him being passionate about the technology. Every scientist knows of electrical tech and the unwanted damage it had caused, but also the power it created was almost unimaginable, people had been working to make it safe for years.

Coulson was the one to interrupt the silence, "Our next step is to find Peter Lukin. If we can find him and take him out of the equation then Markovic is next to powerless."

"Something tells me this won't be too easy." Natasha said. Maria nudged her,

"When has that ever stopped you?"

"It's not me I'm worried about, Bobbi over there can cause a riot sometimes," She joked and glanced over to the woman who had spaced out, "Uh, hello? Earth to Bobbi?"

Bobbi's brain awoke at the sound of her name, "What?"

"What is up with you lately?" Natasha questioned. Bobbi shrugged,

"Nothing. Just tired." She replied with a wary glance at Clint who smiled at her. Natasha eyed the pair suspiciously before turning her attention back to Coulson.

"Peter Lukin is physically strong, we don't know his mental capability but let's assume it's he's pretty smart considering he has created this scheme. We need to observe his movements for a few days before we make our move so we know his patterns," He turned to Clint, "Where did you find the DNA?"

"Some bar place in the city." Clint informed.

"Well, if you have the address, that's where we're going to start."

* * *

The stench of alcohol and cigarettes hung thickly in the air as Natasha and Bobbi entered the bar, acting as two women prepared for a night of fun. Lance sat at the bar already, not having to put up much of an act to be wallowing in his drink. As soon as Coulson suggested the role, Lance had leapt at the chance of tasting the stuff, it was harder to get the time to drink working at S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Nothing suspicious yet, just your average club night." Natasha reported quietly through comms. She and Bobbi continued walking until they got to the bar next to Lance and ordered their drinks.

"Anything else I can do for you ladies?" The barman asked, his Russian accent thick, and Bobbi had to physically refrain from rolling her eyes. Natasha, on the other hand, was in her element as she sought out information.

"What else is there to offer?" She asked, staring the barman in the eyes with a longing gaze. He looked to his left and right before leaning forwards.

"You want to go to Experience?" The women said nothing but nodded for him to carry on, "Upstairs, a private party, you'll get lots more opportunity up there than down here. I will give you both a pass and you can see for yourselves."

He reached under the bar and pulled out two slips, handing one to Bobbi and one to Natasha.

"Have a good time. You know where I am if it doesn't work out." He said before directing them to the stairway.

Bobbi looked over to Natasha, "You've still got it."

"Hell I have." She scoffed.

* * *

Lance watched as the two agents disappeared up the stairs. He was slightly annoyed at the change in plan and having no one up there to provide backup, they were relying on comms to keep contact. It was no secret that Natasha Romanoff aggravated him on a good day, but now she was just taking the mick.

"Morse and Romanoff have gone to the upstairs party, no longer in sight." He reported to Coulson and May who were in the car outside, Clint in another vehicle closer to the entrance.

"What were they thinking?" May's incredulous bite came through and Lance almost laughed. Humourlessly, of course.

"Ask Romanoff." He replied, bitterly.

"Keep an eye out for any unwelcome guests. It's all you can do for now." Coulson ordered.

"Yes sir."

He sipped his drink again and took a look around the bar. It was almost full to the brim, most of the people swarming the makeshift dance floor. Nothing that sparked curiosity caught his eye, in fact things were all normal. No fights or arguments, drunken slurs or excessive nudity. _Too normal_, Lance thought.

Then, a split second after the thought crossed his mind, the door swung open and in came three men that stuck out like sore thumbs in comparison to the rest of the bar. Their appearance also drew the attention of the workers. The barman that served Bobbi and Natasha spoke up,

"Mr Lukin, good to see you back so soon. Enjoy the night."

Mr Lukin, who stood in the centre of the three men, looked over at the barman, "I'm sure it will please as usual."

They carried on their journey, past Lance, Mr Lukin giving him a look – a knowing look – and they traced the steps of Bobbi and Natasha, walking up the stairs. Lance swallowed back the sudden strike of fear that grew when the barman had said the man's name and spoke through comms.

"Peter Lukin is here. He's gone up to the same place as Bobbi and Natasha. Permission to engage?"

Coulson's immediately reply was firm, "Not granted, they might have it under control. May is communicating them. We're getting Damien in, he's a fresh face – they won't recognise him."

Lance sighed in impatience and frustration at the answer. If the response was negative, he was going in. He remembered fully what happened last time, with Daniel, but he wasn't prepared to make the same mistake twice.

* * *

May tried for the third time to get contact with Bobbi. Natasha wasn't replying but wasn't one to do so normally. Bobbi, however, knew that communication was key and May was hoping she would realise and talk to them before herself, or Lance, lost all of their patience.

"Morse, answer now or we're going in." She demanded. Coulson gave her a sharp look of warning not to lose it. May took a deep breath and waited.

Five seconds.

Ten seconds.

Twenty seconds.

Thirty seconds.

"Right, that's enough-" The crackle of the comms cut May off and a sigh of relief left her body. Bobbi's voice floated to her ears but suddenly the relief was gone and the worry came back instantly. It wasn't what they wanted to hear,

"Lukin is up here and he knows. He knows we're S.H.I.E.L.D and he isn't happy."

* * *

Thanks for reading. Also Guest, Sasha and Lola for reviewing the last chapter.

Any suggestions or comments are welcome. :)


	23. Gone

Chapter 23 – Gone

Enjoy.

* * *

"Did you really think that you would get out of here with the information you needed? Really? Has S.H.I.E.L.D not improved at all?" Peter Lukin near enough spat at the two women sat in front of him, hands bound behind a chair. The second Lukin had recognised them, the men he arrived with had grabbed them and led them to a separate room, leaving no time to escape or fight back. The three had left momentarily, giving Bobbi the chance to talk to May through comms before they came back in and took them out of their ears.

"If you were half as smart as you are strong, we might have had a chance." Natasha murmured causing Lukin's eyebrow to raise in surprise.

"So you know of my enhancements? How is that?" He questioned.

"So you know of S.H.I.E.L.D? How is that?" Natasha fired back. Bobbi looked over to her, keeping her face controlled but secretly willing Natasha to shut up for once. This was one man in a million they wouldn't be able to take down easily.

"Alright," Lukin seemed to consider something for a second, "If you want to play that way, we can play that way. I like to call it the waiting game. I come here every day, at least twice and I know people don't ever dare come near this room. So you're both going to stay locked in here, tied and uncared for until you talk."

Natasha growled, "You wouldn't dare."

But Lukin and his men were already walking out, the former throwing a merry 'goodnight' over his shoulder before the door was slammed firmly shut.

Bobbi threw her head back and kicked at the air in anger. Natasha's eyes widened and she leaned away from the other agent,

"Gee, Bobbi, seriously. What is with you? You're different, all silent and seething."

Natasha watched as Bobbi visibly fought to calm herself and regain some kind of composure.

"There is nothing 'with' me, Natasha." She said in a resigned tone, hoping for the subject to be dropped. Natasha didn't believe a word of it,

"Forgive me for being concerned. Be honest with me, is it Clint?" She asked. Bobbi went quiet, "You can talk to me. We used to share everything with each other before… you know, I went crazy and screamed at you."

Bobbi shook her head, "You never went crazy you were attacked on a mission and got PTSD. I would be more worried if you weren't screaming at people."

Natasha caught her eye, "So I was a little crazy?"

It only earned her a glare but a small smile creeped onto Bobbi's face and Natasha felt proud that she had gotten somewhere. She shuffled in her seat and refocused,

"Anyway, that's not where I was going with this. You were there for me as much as your sanity could handle then, and I want to help you now. Just tell me, is it Clint?"

"Clint isn't a very good secret keeper. He knows some things I'd rather stay hidden and I guess I'm just…" Bobbi trailed off, unsure whether she wanted to make the statement.

Natasha finished her sentence, "Scared?"

Bobbi hesitated, "You're right… I am."

"You aren't the only one wishing Clint would keep his mouth shut," The other woman commented, "I don't want him to try and get our relationship back. I've moved on."

"With Maria?" Bobbi was quick to say causing Natasha to shoot her a look of disbelief.

"You know? I mean, what gives you that idea?"

"Get real Nat, you and Hill are like bread and butter. So freakin' obvious." Bobbi rolled her eyes.

Natasha laughed, "And what, Clint is the filling, always getting in the way?"

"Doesn't have to get in the way. Just makes the sandwich taste different."

The room settled into a comfortable silence and both women suddenly sobered up a bit. They were being pretty much held hostage and were cracking jokes about their troubles, instead of thinking of how to get out of the place. May would not be happy.

"Carry any knives?" Natasha asked Bobbi who shook her head.

"It was hard to hide them anywhere wearing this." She tried to gesture with her head to the dress and heels they both wore to fit in for the night. Oh how they regretted it now.

"I bet idiot is being an idiot." Natasha mumbled.

Bobbi stared at Natasha like she was delusional, "Who and what?"

"Hunter. Idiot. Freaking out right about now."

"You think?" Bobbi mused.

"Oh, I know. May will be shouting at Coulson and he'll be using that weird tone of voice he has for authority. Skye and Hunter will be all worry pants and then that leaves Maria and Damien. The only two sane agents left."

Their conversation died out slowly, a wave of haziness floating over them. Suddenly, the two agents felt tired and drowsy and were slipping in their chairs, putting added pressure on their bound wrists and hands.

"Nat, you feeling this?" Bobbi asked the Russian who nodded slowly.

The world went fuzzy before fading more and more to a dizzying darkness.

* * *

When Bobbi came to, the atmosphere was different. Firstly, she was confused, no matter how tired you get on a mission – you do not fall asleep. Considering herself and Natasha had been on multiple mission before and had needed to stay awake for days on end, her slumber had come as a surprise. Secondly, something was missing from beside her… someone…

"Natasha? Romanoff, you in here?" Bobbi tried to see through blurry vision, "Nat?"

* * *

Thanks for reading. Just a filler chapter really, the only significant part being the ending however I think there were some points in there that needed addressing.

And I'd love to thank everyone who has reviewed this story, it's reached a fantastic **61 **reviews. Every review counts and I can only ask that people keep donating their words.

Final point, you may have noticed that the title has changed. The story had taken a different direction than what I was originally aiming for, so I changed the title and added an image (My lovely attempt at drawing an eye there) and if you could take a closer look to see the quotes that are on there, gives an insight to what's coming up!

Thanks!


	24. Conflict in the wings

Chapter 24 – Conflict in the wings

Enjoy.

* * *

"...seriously the most ridiculous extraction plan ever. When have Natasha or Bobbi sat back and said 'let's wait it out'? They haven't. Why don't we abandon the whole mission entirely? We are literally in the middle of nowhere, doing nothing to help our fellow teammates. I should have just followed them up and sorted it out myself." Lance muttered angrily as the team gathered in an opening and, as Lance had put it, in the middle of nowhere.

"You have to understand that Lukin will be on the lookout and if we didn't move away from the city then he would have found us too and the situation would have been worse." Coulson reasoned.

Lance rolled his eyes, "I honestly can't see how that would be a worse situation, _sir._"

"No need to be so irrational, Hunter."

The new voice came from Maria who stood off to the side as usual, and only spoke when necessary. Clearing Lance's behaviour was enough to provoke a voice from her in this moment and it wouldn't disappoint.

"I'm not being irrational, I'm being reasonable. And do you really have to sound so much like Bobbi right now." He sighed.

Maria narrowed her eyes, "You aren't helping by whining at everything, it's depressing and irritating and the opposite of what we need right now."

"Not like you've been a ray of sunshine lately." Lance whispered under his breath however still within range of Maria's ears. The woman stepped forwards threateningly and would have continued in a stride if Damien didn't step in front of her.

"Seriously think arguing is a productive use of time?" He interjected. His comment fell on deaf ears.

"You dare even talk Hunter and I will personally make sure you don't for the next week at least." Maria growled. Lance huffed,

"Now you sound like Natasha," He shook his head and looked to Coulson and May, "What's our next step then?"

"We go back. Send in Damien and Maria and get the information from the inside. From there we can narrow down if Bobbi and Natasha are still in that building or were taken somewhere else." Coulson informed.

"So sending _in _more people is going to help us get two _out. _Sweet." Lance, still with the sarcasm.

Coulson hid the humour from his face by briefly turning away. When he looked back at Lance the sun shone into his eyes, causing him to squint at the agent.

"Maria and Damien will be working for them instead of being customers. May did some research and found that staff had been lacking and they are appealing for new bartenders. Getting in there should be easy and if things go to plan then getting out will be easy too."

"When are we heading out?" Damien asked.

"It's afternoon now, so we send you both in when the bar is full and they need staff. We'll leave in 3 hours."

Maria spoke up, "Is that not a bit too soon?"

"We could risk suspicion but we don't have the time to wait when we don't know where and what is happening to Romanoff and Morse."

Maria nodded in a reluctant acceptance. Lance couldn't resist from voicing his opinion, once again where it wasn't wanted.

"You trying to keep them away? Do you _like_ the idea of Lukin brainwashing them?"

"Hunter." May warned. However, Coulson only motioned for her and the rest of the team to follow him onto the Bus that had been sitting nearby, leaving the two agents to battle it out for themselves.

A harsh breeze flew past as Maria's eyes blazed in offence and anger, "How could you suggest that I am perfectly happy to prevent us getting two very good agents and friends back to us? Is there actually a part of your brain that thinks I would let Natasha go through that?" She argued.

Lance smiled in triumph, having finally heard what he wanted to hear, "Just Natasha then?"

Maria realised her slip up but didn't let it deter her argument against Lance, "I think you carry enough care for Bobbi to total for everyone in the team. Of course I want her to be back and safe too, it's just that I've known Natasha for a lot longer than I have Bobbi and the first thing that came to my mind was her. That is all."

"Really? Because I was under the impression there was something more going on between you two."

"I'm surprised that you take notice in these things, not as if you're an expert on relationships."

"It wasn't my fault, Bobbi was lying. I might still care and have love for the woman but she was manipulating-"

Maria cut in, "But the point is that you _do_ still care. You know what it's like to have a complicated relationship so think that through before you start messing with my head."

"I'm not messing with your head!" Lance exclaimed in protest.

"Do you remember after you shot Daniel, when I had a go at you?" Maria got an obvious nod in return, "I kind of want to do that again."

"Please don't."

"I won't. Only because I care for the sanity and wellbeing of everyone on the Bus. Hunter, sometimes you need to just _shut up_ and let Coulson do the orders, alright?"

Lance sighed and relaxed his posture. Another battle with Maria was over and it was clear who had won.

"It's a deal."

* * *

"I need you to do your job properly this time, or I'm taking you out the picture and promoting Roman. Even he could do a better job." Peter Lukin snapped through the phone. From his side, he could practically feel the fear reeling off Victor as his nervous reply came through,

"Yes sir, what would it be this time?"

Peter smiled wickedly. The S.H.I.E.L.D team had really gone and done it this time and it was about time they had a wakeup call. Peter Lukin wasn't someone to be messed with.

"They know about my technology enhancements. Don't know how, don't want to dwell on it too much. I just want to take theirs away from them." He paused.

Victor gulped and cleared his throat, "A robbery?"

Peter laughed out loud, "On no, a robbery is much too simple. Come on, Markovic, you know what I'm thinking really."

"Sir, I'm afraid I don't…"

An exasperated sigh floated down the line. One day, Peter thought, the people he hires would be as intelligent as him.

"Mr Markovic, I want you to take them out of the sky."


	25. Rescue one

Chapter 25 – Rescue one

Enjoy.

* * *

The night fell quickly. Before they knew it, the team were back at the bar and Damien and Maria had entered the busy atmosphere, sucked into the work almost immediately as the man who Lance recognised from last time had accepted their help within the minute it was offered. Skye had managed to hack into the CCTV this time, which gave every member of the team eyes on the downstairs and upstairs happenings.

Damien served up another drink to a customer with the nicest smile he could muster. He remembered drunks from when he worked for the cops and could only imagine how many times they would be called to this place tonight. It had been completely transformed from the earlier scene of a calmer party that Lance had described as 'eerie'.

"Excuse me!" A slurred shout from a woman to his right broke him from his observations, "You speak English, right?"

"Yes, how can I help?" Damien replied. The woman and her friend stumbled right up to the bar and leaned across,

"We want tickets for upstairs. You can help us out, right handsome?"

Damien forced himself to swallow down any sickness that had risen from the heavy stench of alcohol that hung in her breath and let an easy smile through, "Sure, let me sort something out for you."

He stepped back and looked around for Maria. His eyes found her serving a table far away from the dance floor and as she turned, he caught her eye and gestured to the stairs leading to the first floor. Maria made her way over to him and started to arrange a tray of shots while speaking lowly,

"You go talk to Artur over there, get the passes and I'll follow them up. Cover me." Maria swiftly walked off after her orders to Damien, who frowned in disagreement of her plan but had to participate nevertheless. He walked to the other side of the bar and found Artur who was downing a drink of his own that seemed much stronger than the amount Damien thought was allowed while on the job.

"So is that how things work around here?" He asked, surprising Artur who looked a little caught out but played it off easily,

"When things get a little hectic it eases the stress," He shrugged in reply before acknowledging Damien's presence properly, "You needed something?"

"Yes, there's a couple of women back there who wanted to go upstairs? Know anything about that or are they just drunk?"

Artur smiled mischievously and leaned in as if to tell Damien the most top secret information ever exposed, "Upstairs is called Experience. It's nowhere near as busy as down here but it's four times as good. Only people who mean business go up, _real_ business. However, if it is women you talk about, then they are most likely to be allowed. The boss always likes the nice views."

Damien cringed inwardly at the brief description of the boss. He sounded vile and disrespectful but he couldn't afford to get on the bad side of the boss.

"So can you talk to them? I'm sure, after what you said, they can go up but just to be on the safe side."

Artur nodded and followed Damien to the two women, his face showing recognition as the conversation was started immediately. It only took another minute before they were on their way up the stairs. Maria nodded slightly to Damien and he took his cue.

"Hey Artur, one more thing before you go back around, what's the limit on how much we can drink?" He asked with a grin. Artur slapped him on the back and started to lead him back to where he'd originally been,

"Let's have some fun, newbie."

When Damien looked behind him again, Maria was gone.

* * *

Experience was strangely peaceful. It was the kind of party that looked formal on the outside but held a lot of secrets within. A few drunken characters were there but other than that, glasses of alcohol remained full on tables as people engaged in conversation.

Maria didn't fail to notice the security on each wall, watching every move made by the oblivious people who looked to be enjoying their time. She carried the tray she bought up to the bar and quickly surveyed the workers. In comparison to Artur, they were well put together and seemed to _never speak_ as they were constantly making drinks and placing them on the bar for anyone to take. She spotted a couple of corridors in the far corners of the room and headed for the nearest one, avoiding the eyes of security and hoping to find Bobbi and Natasha as soon as possible.

The corridor was unlit and seemingly abandoned until she reached the turning and voices could be heard before she turned the corner.

"We need to get out of here within the hour. I don't doubt for a second that S.H.I.E.L.D are coming back and we need to act before they do. Follow me." The voice demanded and footsteps started Maria's way. She moved back into the wall and prayed for them to carry on straight. Before the person could reveal themselves, another voice came into the scene,

"Peter, don't go walking off again. The S.H.I.E.L.D agents would have never come in the first place if you hadn't made such a mistake. I will not have your back this time." It was a woman's voice this time and it didn't take a genius to figure out who the first speaker was.

"You have no right to talk to me in a way. You didn't save me, you didn't help me and you certainly won't be coming with us again. Now, you two, I said follow me."

Numerous footsteps passed Maria, luckily blind to her hiding spot. A heavy sigh was heard from where the conversation was held then more footsteps faded into the opposite direction. Feeling like it was safe to carry on, Maria stepped out and continued down the corridor.

The atmosphere got heavier and heavier the further she walked, a sudden feeling of apprehension stopping her outside a room with a sign on the door,

_DO NOT ENTER. ORDERS OF PETER LUKIN. TRESSPASSERS WILL BE CAUGHT AND PUNISHED_

"Basically an invitation then," Maria muttered before swinging the door open and promptly dropping her jaw at what she found.

"Bobbi? Crap, Bobbi!" Maria exclaimed at seeing the agent struggling to get her hands out of the binds holding them behind the chair. She ran across the room to help and only then saw the colour of Bobbi's face. The woman looked extremely drugged up and drowsy and was murmuring words that Maria couldn't understand in her haste to get her out of the chair.

"You gotta help me out, Morse. Try and move your hand out of there for me." She coaxed. Eventually, Bobbi helped Maria free her hands from the chair and instantly slid to the floor, the only thing keeping her on the chair being the binds on her wrists.

"What happened?" Maria asked, more to herself than anything. Then she thought again and prioritised getting out of there instead of wondering what things Bobbi and Natasha had to endure. Speaking of Natasha…

"Bobbi, where's Natasha? Is she in the building somewhere?"

Bobbi's head nodded slowly at the mention of Natasha, "We…dr-dr…drug…gone…"

That was all Maria was getting as Bobbi fell unconscious in her arms.

"Hey! Morse, don't- oh for goodness- could this get any worse?"

As if on cue, the alarm rang out and running steps were approaching fast to the room. Maria only had time to look up before an angry looking Peter Lukin met her gaze.

"Well. Looks like we aren't going anywhere just yet."

* * *

Thanks for reading.

A quick thank you to everyone who is reading. Who would have thought that I, one of the people who isn't great with commitment to stories, would have got to chapter 25! I only have everyone who reads, follows, favourites and reviews to thank. Your generosity has been overwhelming and it's great to have something to come and write for someone else who isn't myself. Who knows, maybe another 25 chapters will pass by!


	26. Everything changes

Chapter 26 – Everything changes

Enjoy.

* * *

Damien froze mid-drink when the alarm started to go. One look at Artur's face told him that it wasn't a good sign and wasted no time in asking him for answers now. Shouting into comms as he went, Damien flew up the stairs in search of Maria,

"I wouldn't be surprised if you guys can hear this but the alarm's going off and people are leaving. I need back-up to get the man who got us in, names Artur and he knows the ins and outs of this place. I'm on my way to Maria, I don't know what I'll find so cover would be great."

As Damien fought his way through a few groups of people to get to the top of the stairs, shouting was becoming more and more notable from the upstairs bar. The shouting increased to a maximum and Damien could put a face to the noise. He reached for his gun and aimed at the man who towered over two forms on the floor.

"Hey!" He shouted and the man turned, a deadly glare set in his features that could kill but would never faze Damien.

"Another one? You send two in, they get captured and so you send more and think I won't capture you too!"

Damien shrugged one shoulder, "Well, here's hoping."

"Not a chance." He growled but his threat didn't stand for long as more agents appeared on the first floor behind Damien.

"Drop your weapons!" Clint ordered Lukin's men as he stepped beside Damien, holding a similar stance with his weapon in hand. However, the men ignored his demand and raised their own weapons, creating a stand-off between the two sides.

"If you're a wise man, Lukin, you'll surrender. The chances of you getting out of here are almost zero. We're taking you in." Coulson announced as he approached the other man, causing his men to slightly tweak their aim.

Lukin glared down at Coulson, "S.H.I.E.L.D has no right to take me in."

"Two of our agents were held hostage."

"Because they were trespassing!" Lukin exclaimed before lowering his tone to a chilling low, "If you even make one more step towards me, I will make sure you _never_ see the other agent again. Romanoff, am I correct?"

Coulson held his face still, despite the internal battle that had now begun inside. Either make a huge step towards completing the mission, risking the life of another agent in the process or let the man walk away, saving Natasha, yet throwing away the work they had built up to this point – the research, the undercovers, the progression. Something flashed in the back of Coulson's mind, a memory of a conversation that had taken place soon after the revelation of the first mission.

"_Why do I have to go back-up?" Natasha complained to Coulson and May as they had crowded into Coulson's office after the briefing, "Bobbi doesn't want – or even need – my help. Skye needs to be there, I get that, she's hacking and getting us visual. Hunter does not need to be there and is another distraction for Bobbi."_

"_Are you saying that you're a distraction?" May smirked and Natasha rolled her eyes._

"_Of course not. I'm the perfect partner, of course. It's just that when you put me and Hunter together, it doesn't end well. He'll do something stupid. I bet you real money, May."_

"_For some reason, I don't doubt that will happen. It doesn't change the fact that you have to be back-up though, Bobbi is trained enough to ignore it."_

"_May's right, I could have sent anyone in to talk to Daniel. I didn't just choose Bobbi because she knows him, I chose her because she's one of the few people able to deal with your difficulties."_

_Coulson's words made Natasha freeze. Did he know? The fallout between herself and Bobbi wasn't something that she openly talked about, but had Bobbi told Coulson and the team about everything before she could have stopped it?_

"_Hey, no need to look so shocked. You can pick a fight with anyone if you wanted to. Bobbi is just slightly more resistant to it." He added and Natasha relaxed a little, being way too paranoid than she needed to be there._

_It was at this point that the person of discussion walked in to Coulson's office, having heard the last couple of exchanges in the conversation._

"_Thanks for the compliment, sir, but I still don't think that back-up is necessary. I'm with Natasha on this one." Bobbi stated as she stood against the wall near the door._

"_Oh, shocker." Natasha quipped, earning a glare from Bobbi._

"_I don't do negotiations with the people I hire to work for me and S.H.I.E.L.D. You're working together, now get out of my office." Coulson finalised. Bobbi shook her head but said no more, walking out with May close behind._

_Natasha gave a humourless chuckle and moved to follow the other agents but Coulson calling her name stopped her,_

"_You promise to do your job properly? This isn't just the first mission, it's the first mission I can see if you're the right decision for this team. Prove to me-"_

"_Coulson," Natasha interrupted, "I am a spy. I work every single day to redeem myself for all of the people I hurt and killed. With or without S.H.I.E.L.D, I am defeating the right people now and I will do so until there isn't a breath left in my body. I would die for this, it would be pleasure to die for this."_

_Then she left, leaving Coulson in admiration and slight awe at the woman who had proven already that she could be trusted and does a job how it should be done. Who was he to question that?_

Coulson closed his eyes to shake the image of Natasha from his head. When he opened them he was once again met with the expectant looks of Lukin, his features smug and knowing, and then his team, each one of their faces painted with a different look of plead. Looking at Clint who was fighting hard not to look at Coulson, his gun pointed still at Lukin but the grip had slackened and it shook. Clint Barton's aim did not waver. Ever.

"_I would die for this, it would be a pleasure to die for this."_

It was all Coulson needed as he refocused on Lukin. Natasha's words echoed in his head as he spoke,

"We're taking you in."

Lukin's eyes widened in surprise and he stepped back. No one in the room moved for a long period of time as Coulson's decision had contradicted their minds, leaving them temporarily paralysed. The sharp pop of a gunshot was enough to draw them back to reality and the chaos begin from there.

The shot had come from May who, after years of practice, had locked her emotions away and was following through on Coulson's orders. She ran forwards and tackled Lukin's men, causing them to drop like dead weights to the floor before she moved on to her main target. By this time, the team had moved past the initial shock and helped May restrain Lukin.

"I'm inhuman! You aren't getting me that easily!" He declared and something changed within him. He flung his arms out at the agents in combat with him and sent them flying across the room in a second. Coulson was rapidly realising his mistake.

"Be afraid, Phil Coulson! Be afraid!" Lukin sneered as he created a hole in the ceiling and escaped from the building, leaving the S.H.I.E.L.D team below and fighting for some kind of hope that all they worked for was not gone.

Coulson spotted the nearest agent he saw and stormed over, feet slamming hard into the remains of a ceiling, in his fear and rage. It was Maria who still hovered beside Bobbi and when she lifted her eyes to meet his, the force of the betrayal in her eyes made him lose some of his breath. The floor was covered in rubble now, the air was thick with smoke and bodies lay amongst it all, some awake, some fallen victim to the tempting escape of darkness. But as the alarm still rang loud, and the wind started to pull in, Coulson remained firm with his orders,

"We need to get everyone up, Agent Hill. If we don't move now then he'll be out of the area before we can get to him. Let's just hope that his only inhuman quality is strength," Coulson turned to walk away before realising that Maria hadn't moved, "Agent Hill, we need to move now or-"

"_No_."

The alarm stopped.

Coulson frowned, "What do you mean?"

Attention of the rest of the team was drawn, all bar Lance who had been knocked unconscious, and Maria continued to talk,

"Why the hell should I take orders from you, _Agent Coulson_?" She spat, "You just put another agent in danger, we might never see her again. On top of that, you only _kind of_ forgot that our target is inhuman and there was no chance of taking him in. I will not follow your orders, especially if they are that stupid."

Everybody saw Coulson square his shoulders and give Maria a steely gaze. He knew she was right, of course, but taking away from his position as director wasn't something he would take considering how he'd earned the position.

"I'm the director of S.H.I.E.L.D and the orders that I give are for the best interest of S.H.I.E.L.D and our mission. If Agent Romanoff were here, she would have agreed on the same decision, I promise you that," He paused, sparing a look to the gaping hole above, "We'll have missed Lukin now. All of the leads are dead, Artur got away. Our best bet now is to go back to the Bus and start looking again."

Leaving no more room for conversation, Coulson descended the stairs, an open invitation left for anyone to join him.

Damien and Clint shared Lance's weight between them and followed the director's steps. May was next, a look of confliction on her face as she went before Skye started to leave, however changing her mind and looking back to Maria.

"I think you should stick with us so, do you need a hand?" She asked, gesturing to Bobbi. Maria sighed and nodded, stepping around pieces of rubble to get one of Bobbi's arms, Skye getting the other.

Together they made it outside, dodging the various people still around from the evacuation and the emergency services, and back to the Bus where they were greeted by a harsh hiss of anger from a familiar voice,

"The Bus! My plane… _what happened?_"

It was May who gave the outburst, not surprisingly as the scene before them was one that needed an explanation – fast.

Simmons, Mack and Fitz were all gathered near the Bus, looking worn, scraped and bruised. The Bus itself was dead. A hazardous trail of dug up earth and fallen trees led to the plane, showing its journey to the current position of embedded firmly in the ground, dents and scratches scattered across the body.

"Agent May, director, I'm afraid we were attacked while in flight by unknown sources. Mack was flying when these weapons became apparent on the radar and from then it was downhill. Quite literally, I'm afraid. Mack did an amazing job keep us alive." Simmons explained. May turned her focus to Mack who stood nearby.

"I tried my best. Luckily, we weren't that high." Was all he said, then with a respectful nod, he walked to where Bobbi lay, her battle staves in his hands.

Fitz piped up from next to Simmons, "We have everything we needed from in there, we also got a lot out of some of your bunks but if we missed anything…" He trailed off, unsure of what else to say.

Coulson nodded to them both in thanks before turning to May, "You won't be able to get this off the ground, will you?"

May shook her head, refusing to look at the Bus, "No way."

"Alright," Coulson grabbed the attention of his team, "We have five minutes to get what we need, then we leave. Let's go."

The team slowly got working on getting essentials off the Bus, Maria and Mack staying back to keep Bobbi and Lance under watch, Coulson standing not far away.

"You have a plan. Where are you going to take us?" Maria questioned the director who tilted his head towards her,

"I know a place. It's safe and I can almost guarantee that it's not a stupid decision," He replied, causing Maria to scoff,

"You've made a lot of people unhappy, not just me. Clint, Bobbi… they're going to want explanations. And I know how it works. Being a former deputy-director, I know that you won't provide a decent explanation for your actions and it will probably fall on the shoulders of May or me and it's already given Natasha her share."

Mack looked on with confusion but when he realised the absence of Natasha and the way everyone was acting came as a pair, it didn't take long to piece the puzzle together. Bobbi shifted and a sound of discomfort formed at her lips, gaining the attention of the surrounding agents.

"She needs a proper medical," Maria stated, Bobbi's appearance not reassuring in the slightest. The pallor in her face in contrast with the flush on her cheeks and the slight slowed breathing were all very bad signs of whatever drug Bobbi was given.

A positive was shown though, as Bobbi was coming to and her eyes, though unfocused, saw up at Maria.

"Nat…" She whispered and Maria's heart almost gave in to the intense hurt she was feeling at the name. She glanced at Coulson before talking to Bobbi,

"I'm really sorry. I'll be honest with you, she's gone and I'm not sure if we're getting her back."

Bobbi's eyebrows knitted together and her eyes became more glazed than they were previously, but for different reasons this time.

"She was only trying to protect us…" The agent said, hoarsely and Maria took both of her hands in her own.

"I promise you that I'll dedicate my mission to finding Natasha now. Lukin isn't leaving this country until I find her. Dead or alive. He will burn in his own evil. I will make sure of it personally."

* * *

Thanks for reading and please leave your comments.


	27. SHIELD Base 7

Chapter 27 – S.H.I.E.L.D Base 7

Enjoy.

* * *

"This is our new base." Coulson announced as the team stumbled through the huge entrance doors that shut heavily behind them before they could even start to digest the new surroundings before them.

Clearly, they had interrupted some sort of meeting as pairs of eyes were suddenly staring at the battered team, at least one hundred people in the room if not double that. There was a woman on the stage, presumably in charge, and she stepped down from the stage. The crowed parted through the middle as she strode across the room, light brown hair bouncing with her walk.

"Director. We did not expect you so soon. Welcome," She held out her hand for him to shake. Coulson did so, before gesturing to his team,

"Could we get some help for my team, some of them have taken a beating and need a medical." He explained, to which the woman nodded and gestured for the nearest few people to direct all of the team except Coulson, May and Maria to the medical wing of the newfound base.

"May, Maria, this is Ivana, in charge of this base for S.H.I.E.L.D, Ivana this is Agent Melinda May and Maria Hill." Coulson introduced the unfamiliar faces to each other. Ivana greeted them both with a respectful smile and received nods from both women in return.

"I hope you do not mind but the base is not yet complete. As I said, we did not expect you so soon." Ivana repeated her opening statement, her tone suggesting that she wanted some answers from Coulson. Before he knew it, Coulson had three pairs of expectant eyes on him as May and Maria's curiosity peaked too.

"Let's talk more privately." Coulson's resolution was and they were reminded of the large audience still hanging around ever since the team had walked in. Ivana spun around and faced her workers, speaking quickly and with authority. Some people muttered in annoyance at her words instead of complying with Ivana's words, which caused her to snap loudly in words of Russian. Within the next minute, the room was free of unwanted attention.

If there was any moment that Maria wished Natasha was with them, it was then. Ivana had spoken in fluent Russian to her agents, unsurprisingly, but had obviously said something that had upset them and Maria couldn't help but wonder what was so important. After all the events of late, she couldn't help but be attentive to every little detail and activity so no more mistakes were made.

Ivana's piercing blue eyes latched onto the Director expectantly, "Private enough for you?"

"Words bounce of walls even more in larger rooms," Coulson commented, "But nothing we can't deal with."

"Good. S.H.I.E.L.D here is secret free, I cannot have the Director himself being suspicious." Ivana said, Maria almost scoffing out loud afterwards.

"You can never underestimate the Director, he can come out with things that no one would expect. Then he'll ask you to trust him as he walks you casually through a forest to a hidden area containing a new S.H.I.E.L.D base. So suspicious? No, never would have labelled him with that one."

Coulson tried to ignore Maria's consistent jibes after his decision back at the bar. She had every right to be angry with him as had the rest of the team; it was waiting for the wrath that Bobbi was sure to bring that he was anxious for.

"This base," Coulson began, "I had no plans to come here so soon and it was only last resort if things got bad on this mission. We have no Bus, half our agents are hurt in some way and the people we were hunting our now after us. So last resort had to be used. It's not a secret, there was just no need to tell anyone about this. The more people who know means the more likely it is to fail and I won't risk that."

"You risk human lives more than you risk a stupid base. And if this is not a secret then why didn't you tell us where we were going?" Maria questioned, May having to physically grab her in a warning this time before things got out of hand.

"What has happened, has happened, Maria. I didn't tell you because you would have had a choice and you and choices don't seem to be getting along right now. Believe me when I say I didn't say anything to protect _you._ You need to move past this so that we can understand and deal with the situation we have ourselves in." Coulson said, calmly. Maria sighed but couldn't refrain from saying something more before resigning,

"You got us in this situation."

May intervened then, ever the peacekeeper when necessary, "We have to stay on track, how long are you thinking of staying?"

Coulson glanced thankfully at May and explained his plan, "We need to get the team back on its feet again before jumping into anything else. Bobbi needs debriefing as soon as she can. The technology here can give us a map of almost every area in Russia. Everything and anything will help us get closer to finding Lukin."

"And Natasha?"

Maria's question wasn't with malice or anger and Coulson knew it. She was just worried for a friend and genuinely needed answers before she went crazy. So Coulson fulfilled Maria's need for a plan of action,

"She's smart. I'm hoping she's smart enough to hold Lukin off for a while so we can find her and in the process get him. Tomorrow we can get in the air and start searching." He suggested, looking to each of his agents for agreement.

"The Bus is down, we have no flight." May reminded, dejectedly as she thought back to the scrap that was now the Bus, the one they had left behind. To her shock, Ivana laughed and shared a look with Coulson,

"I do not think you know the level of technology we have here. If we leave now then we can get the Bus back here and fix it. And to help your team with damaged equipment, I can have someone take you to our lab. The weapons room has some basic items, but we have been working on much stronger equipment that will help you get this man." She supplied.

Coulson smiled gratefully at her offers, but with an element of doubt in his eyes, "Our target is inhuman."

Ivana frowned in thought at the new fact before her eyes lit up when an idea struck, "I have just the thing. But first, if I could give you a general tour?"

"That would be perfect." Coulson replied.

* * *

Not long after, the three had followed Ivana through an impressive number of rooms. First they had gone through the mechanical area – Mack wouldn't feel more at home – where several vehicles and aircraft were either being worked on or waiting for the next use. The next stop was the lab that Ivana had mentioned, and it sure didn't disappoint. Agents worked constantly to improve their weapons in one corner, while scientists created and explored DNA in another. Ivana introduced them to some of the people who spoke enough English to explain their projects. They moved on to pass the longest corridor of bunk rooms _ever_, most of them, they were told, were still empty as the agents hadn't fully moved away from their normal lives. There was a smaller corridor leading off from the long one and at the end of it was a room that they could guess was for leisure.

Now they had stopped in the medical bay. It wasn't just a 'bay' though, more of a full on hospital wing in comparison to what they had back at the playground. The team were spread across the room, looking completely defeated and at loss of what to do with themselves.

"Sir, I thought I'd let you know that Hunter's up. Bobbi still in and out of it but she's getting what she needs. Fitzsimmons are being looked over now after we dragged them away from the lab." Mack informed, the last part of his speech spoken with humour at the image of their awestruck scientists when they saw the lab. Coulson smiled too, out of comfort to his team and appreciation,

"Thanks, Mack. Now you get checked over, just in case."

Mack nodded and left without much argument, giving Coulson room to look around for his other agents. Maria had left his side and was currently with Bobbi who had regained some colour to her face as she was treated for whatever drug she'd been given. Coulson inwardly winced as he thought of Natasha, how she could have been given the same thing but had no one to help her or give her medication. He saw Lance, talking quietly to Damien, looking confused and a bit sick but he was awake and that was all that really mattered. Lance had been cleared up with a clean white bandage on his head, then the Director's gaze landed on Clint.

The man sat on the ground near to Damien and Lance, shoulders slumped and head bowed but you could just make out his eyes, staring hard and focused art the ground. It told any onlooker of his inner conflict – does he leave now or stay with them to look for Natasha? His mission had been to prove to her that he wasn't out for revenge. Of course, part of him still loved her but not in the way that he needed for a relationship to work out between them. He raised his head and immediately found Coulson's stare. His expression screamed _help_.

Pushing past the feeling of guilt, the feeling of fear, the feeling of failure, Coulson moved forwards. He opened his mouth, ready to speak loud and clear but not a sound was made. However, a small flicker of something in Clint's eyes urged him on and he cleared his throat, swallowed, and spoke,

"Today I made a mistake," He began, attracting the attention of May beside him, the trio of men in front, Fitzsimmons, Mack, Maria and even Bobbi fought to stay conscious to hear Coulson talk, "A mistake that gives you that wrench you heart out and stand on it feeling. We all know that feeling. Moving past it though we still have to carry on and complete this mission that we started to protect and save Russia from the invisible danger that's going to sneak up on them if we don't do something. You all know as well as I do that they won't feel a thing if this weapon of destruction activates. Without Agent Romanoff, it will be harder, but not impossible. Here, S.H.I.E.L.D Base 7, is our new home until we fix this and find Romanoff because Victor Markovic and Peter Lukin should be very afraid if we don't find her alive and soon. So rest up and sleep well because tomorrow we wake up and keep fighting for S.H.I.E.L.D's purpose."

Somehow, Coulson really believed he was right and hoped his team did too. As he walked out of the medical bay, May following so they could retrieve the Bus, he remembered the flicker he saw in Clint's eye.

That flicker had been Hope.

* * *

Thanks for reading,

This chapter may have been a little weird? I don't know, but please leave your comments and ask in a review or a PM. Coulson was a little off character but I had to get this in there in some way and I tried to stay as close to him as I could.

Reply to the review from the last chapter –

Lola – It's so awesome that you like Maria being a boss! She and Bobbi are very likely to focus more on finding Natasha than stopping the massive, huge weapon that could destroy Russia but they know not to stray too far from the team. Thanks for reviewing chapter 26!


	28. Discovery Device

Chapter 28 – Discovery Device

Enjoy.

* * *

Make one mistake and you could change everything that you worked for. Make two mistakes and it could reverse the damage you did. Make three mistakes and you've got no chance. Not in this world, not with HYDRA, not with S.H.I.E.L.D.

* * *

The sun rose the next morning and the team were roused from their various places around the base, not by the sunlight streaming through their window – because there were no windows – but by a certain scientist. For Fitz, he had been up extremely early to explore the new lab and had done his best to get past the language barrier between himself and the few other scientists that were up so early. After familiarising himself with the basics, he was at work on a project he and Simmons had been slaving over for months now. The Statistical Analytical Health Observation Device had been a project of incredible hard work, something Fitz and Simmons dedicated their spare hours to, finally coming to an end as Fitz raced to find Simmons.

"Jemma!" He called as he ran across the hall to check the medical wing before going back towards the corridor of bunk rooms in search of the other scientist. He managed to get halfway down the corridor, still shouting for Jemma to appear from nowhere, when he was intercepted by a large form that had just stepped out of their bunk.

"Fitz, what-?"

Unfortunately, Fitz was carrying a loosely closed box of the miniscule devices he was working on and if they were going to be scattered across the floor because he dropped the box, they would be impossible to find. At the speed he was going, Fitz was helpless as he saw the box go flying into the air as he and the large figure collided.

"No!" He gasped in horror as the box escaped to fly further and further from the scientist. The world became agonizingly slow and he could only watch as the box descended into…

Safe hands.

The new holder of the box almost dropped it themselves, as they straightened up too quickly and stumbled. Mack, who had caused Fitz to catapult the box, stepped forwards to aid them before true damage was done. He grabbed the box and handed it to Fitz before assessing the agent before him,

"Shouldn't you be resting up? In the medical bay?" He questioned.

"I have. But Coulson wasn't wrong when he said we need to work today." They replied and moved around Mack and Fitz to walk down the corridor. However, they only got so far as Mack's large form was blocking them from pursuing their journey that wouldn't be greatly accepted by other agents in the team.

"I think Coulson was directing that more at us than you because I don't know if you remember, but you were pretty out of it yesterday and there's not a chance anyone's going to let you do any heavy lifting."

Bobbi rolled her eyes at her protective friend, "Then I'll do some lighter lifting."

Mack sent a warning glance at Bobbi and opened his mouth to inform her of the teammates that weren't going to be happy about her decision, when another bunk door opened and a groggy looking Maria stepped out. She saw Fitz who was inspecting all of the devices just to make sure no long term damage was done,

"Hey…" She said with a half wave to the younger scientist who gave a short nod. Maria's gaze turned to pass over Bobbi and she had to do a double take, "Hey!" She exclaimed in dislike.

Maria saw Mack hovering behind and greeted him too, "Hey."

Bobbi had realised the trouble that was coming her way and had formed a weak plan to get away before Maria could freak out on her. While Maria was looking at Mack, she tried to fall back behind the tall mechanic but with no luck, as Maria instantly shot forwards grabbing Bobbi's forearm and pulling her into her bunk room. Fitz looked at Mack who rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath, before taking off to find some sort of food to fuel him for the sure to be eventful day. The Scottish man was left to continue his journey down the corridor, walking this time, to find Simmons.

* * *

"No."

"Come on, Maria. You are not in charge of my actions." Bobbi argued as the two squared off in Maria's room.

The former deputy director frowned and gaped slightly, "I, am not, trying to be _in charge_ of anything. That's not my job anymore."

"I know, but I can see that you're trying to ignore Natasha being gone by over-caring and it's not how you should be dealing with it because we need to get out there, into the field and start making an impact on this Markovic guy. When we get him, we get Lukin and, of course, Natasha is a priority for us. But if we don't stop this weapon and this army then we don't get anything because we'll all be dead." Bobbi stated, bluntly, but in her opinion Maria needed to hear it.

Maria squeezed her fingers into fists and glanced at the wall. The mention of Natasha had caught her off guard and left her speechless about how Bobbi could almost see straight through her. Almost. As far as Maria knew, the blonde agent wasn't fully aware of the real reason she was so eager to find Natasha.

Luckily, an interruption came handy to Maria as both eyes drew to the door where a knock had sounded. Bobbi returned to look at Maria and gave her a stern look,

"We talk about this later."

Then, she turned and swung the door open, revealing Coulson waiting patiently with his arms crossed in front of his and a strangely warming smile on his face.

"Morning, Agent Hill, Morse," He began, not waiting for their replies, he continued, "I need you in the briefing area ASAP. Fitzsimmons have something to share with everyone before we start our search."

"Is it what Fitz was yelling about earlier? Seriously, it was like his life depended on it." Bobbi muttered, but with a playful look in her eyes as she rolled them.

Coulson nodded, "Yes, but it's well worth our time so be there."

"Sir, where is-" Maria was cut off by Coulson as he walked off down the corridor,

"10 minutes!"

"But, the briefing room, is that-?"

"Oh, and if you see Damien, let him know."

"Coulson, wait-"

"Grab breakfast on your way, Maria!"

Maria could create thunder at the tension she caused from her glare alone at the empty corridor that Coulson once stood in. Still, she called again, louder,

"Phil!"

Coulson reappeared at the end of the corridor, hearing Maria's call from around the corner, "Yes?"

"We don't know where the briefing room is. New Russian 'S.H.I.E.L.D Base 7' remember?" Maria said.

"Of course, why didn't you just ask? It's where we came in." He replied before resuming his own journey to the briefing room.

Maria groaned loudly and flopped back onto her bed, earning herself a non-sympathetic smirk from Bobbi. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

Thanks for reading, this is mostly a filler chapter and some ideas of what's to come. Sorry it has taken so long but I had to take some time away from writing to sort through some things. Thanks for all your patience.

The follows, favourites and reviews are great, really boosting.

Guest – Totally agree with you there! Thanks for the review.

Lola – Definitely a rough patch now but not too long until things clear up and the team is reunited again! Thanks.


	29. S-HOD

Chapter 29 – S-HOD

Enjoy.

* * *

It had taken more than 10 minutes, but finally the team had gathered in the briefing room to discuss the device Fitz and Simmons had been working on. Simmons had given Bobbi a telling off for being up and active so soon, but her attention was quickly diverted when Fitz revealed he'd had a breakthrough with their project.

"The Statistical Analyt-"

"S-HOD," Fitz shortened for the agents in the room looking slightly put out by Simmons' overuse of complex vocabulary. However, the biochemist wasn't pleased at his interruption,

"Fitz, it doesn't work to abbreviate the device to 'S-HOD', I've told you to at least think of something better, but I don't know why we abbreviate everything on this team anyway…" She muttered her disapproval, causing Coulson to silently raise an eyebrow.

Lance piped up from where he stood to back Fitz up, "It's probably because we don't have half the vocabulary range you have so it makes it simpler for our brains to process when you shove your fancy technology at us."

"Speak for yourself," Bobbi murmured, provoking a snigger from Maria beside her. Lance, in his curiosity, shot them an accusing glare.

"How about we get back to the point. We don't have a lot of time." May stated. Simmons nodded in agreement and continued to inform of the new S-HOD device.

"It is programmed to each of you after it is injected into your bloodstream – a harmless procedure that I'm sure you won't mind – then we can see you vital signs on our computers or phones. We can keep an eye on you all during missions, detect oncoming viruses, monitor recovery rates and most importantly, there will be no more lying to me about how you are." Simmons finished, feeling triumphant with herself for getting one over the agents.

Coulson stepped up to look at the miniscule device in the box that Fitz still held, "When can we start using them?"

"Right away, sir."

"Any side effects?"

"We can't be sure but none that we're aware of."

"How long do they last?"

"Well, anytime between 6 to 18 months, sir."

Coulson hummed and stared at the device some more, before looking up at the scientists and giving them a small smile, "Good work, let's get them started."

Simmons was visibly relieved that the small interrogation was over and glanced over the agents, "Any volunteers?"

No one immediately came forward, it was after everyone else had lowered their eyes or averted their gazes that May stepped up,

"Alright, I'll get it done then I'm back with the Bus. It's almost done and I want to get searching for this guy and Romanoff."

"Right, Damien's with you today so you can both go. _Any_ updates and you let me know." Coulson ordered. Damien internally groaned but shifted onwards to follow Fitz, Simmons and May to the lab. This left Maria, Lance, Clint, Bobbi and Skye to receive Coulson's orders for the day.

"You're all going on land search today with Ivana's agents. Lance, Skye, you're going west and Maria and Clint are going east. Remember, we're looking for Lukin. May is searching in the air for Romanoff and will have better eyes than you. If you see any leads towards Romanoff, call her, got it?" Nods of affirmation were passed around, "Get your… _S-HOD's_ fitted and then get started. We don't have all day, I need you back before dark."

The mentioned agents dispersed, however Bobbi was left, Coulson's failure to give her orders wasn't a shock considering the circumstances.

"I'm surprised you've let Lance work. I mean, surely if he can then I can, he was concussed. I've been drugged before, I've dealt with it without the fancy treatment, so what's your game this time?" She questioned the director who gave a half-shrug,

"Just in case there was anything else in the drug, you're going to be seen by Simmons to double check. Then you're on the desk with me. I know, sounds awesome right?"

Bobbi blew out a sarcastic laugh, "As if, Coulson I'm not stupid, anyone could see straight through you right now, you're practically transparent," She lowered her tone so her voice didn't echo off the walls of the vast room, "Do you think I'm going to turn?"

"The chips could be hidden anywhere-"

"Oh my god! You think I'm going to turn into a blue-eyed, murderous-"

"Come on, I'm being rational, thinking ahead. Plus, being drugged is still a little more serious than having a concussion, no matter how many times you've dealt with it."

Bobbi went quiet but her lips were turned down into a disapproving manner. Her mind thought back to the weird device that Fitzsimmons had created, and how she'd seen them working on it over the last few weeks since the new mission had cropped up. Thinking now, Bobbi wondered if they had less interruptions over the weeks, then they would have it done earlier.

"Do you think the S-HOD would help find Nat if she had one?" She asked the Director who had watched her mind working for the last minute.

He sighed and Bobbi realised why she was _really_ not allowed in the field today but said nothing of it. The reply came in a tone of regret and guilt from the event that had caused Natasha's disappearance, "Maybe, but it wouldn't have stopped it happening. I made my decision based on Natasha and the mission. We had a conversation not so long ago where she said that it would be a pleasure to die returning what she had stolen from the people she hurt all those years ago. You should know that she would have chosen the same thing, no matter what everyone else said. I can take the passive aggressiveness if I know that."

Bobbi understood and relayed that in a look to Coulson before they walked out of the briefing room and to the lab. The agent couldn't help but send a prayer to someone, anyone, _Natasha, wherever you are, be okay, be as safe as possible and _please_ be _reasonable_._

* * *

Peter walked behind the struggling prisoner being dragged back to the claustrophobic room they had rested in for the last day since their capture. If by rested, that means fighting off the effects of the drug they had supplied them with and ramming their entire body weight into the door and walls to find some way of escape.

"Oh, Miss Romanoff, you should just quit while you can. This process would be so much easier if you would just settle for once." He said with an uncomfortably smooth edge to his voice that was not at all relaxing to his prisoner.

Natasha growled and would have smacked the man right there if she could. The effects of the drug had left her dreary and lacking in her usual bite and awareness, there was that and the fact that the people who worked for Lukin were almost as strong as him with the enhancements they most likely had.

Despite the disadvantages, Natasha was as alert as she could be. She was aware of the two pairs of strong arms guiding her back to her room. She was aware of Peter's watchful eyes as he eased his way forwards behind her. She was aware of the passing people, carrying boxes upon boxes of gadgets, wires and accessories to other places. Her eye caught one particular box edging towards them, no lid and full of wires. _A hand out and no one would notice, _Natasha thought to herself as she waited for her second to strike.

"You alright there, Natasha? You've gone strangely quiet." Peter's voice came again. _Now_. Natasha put up another struggle against the people either side of her, to put a show for Peter and to _just_ grab the wires. A second later she was tossed into her room and the door slammed shut.

Peter sung from the other side, "Hope you have a nice stay!"

Natasha spat at the door, instantly disgusted with herself for reacting to such a vile man. She looked at what she'd picked up in her hands, squinting in the dimness of the room. They looked like electrodes you'd find on some people with heart problems in hospital but these had a plug on the end of them, lighting the memory in her mind of Fitz's speech on electrical tech. The Russian agents mind worked in overdrive at what to do with the newfound technology laying in her hands, no prisoner could throw away an option of escape.

_These people are impossible to break, they are inhuman, _the thought bounced around in Natasha's mind as she got up and felt around the walls for a plug socket. Three quarters her way around the room, her heart sunk a little in disappointment of not finding anything, when her hand hit something cold, plastic and extremely plug like. Her movements became rapid with adrenalin as she plugged the wires in and attached them to herself.

"This better be worth it, there's no going back, Romanoff." She whispered to herself. Her finger hovered over the switch for a moment. Another moment later and Natasha's body was pulsing with electricity that coursed through her veins and arteries, the exhilarating feeling of power rushing straight to her head. The power that would undoubtedly get her out of this situation and back to the team.

Unknown to her, it would soon cause issues in the long run.

* * *

Thanks for reading.

I'm sorry. It's been so long, if anyone is still reading I praise your time and patience. Thank you.


	30. Contact

Chapter 30 – Contact

Enjoy.

* * *

"So Barton," Maria started, "how long do you plan on sticking around?"

Clint twisted his head to look at Maria's similar stance to him, on guard and searching for clues. He swore he caught a double-meaning to the question but didn't pick the former deputy director up on it – yet.

"I don't have a figure on it, I want to find Natasha more than anything then I guess we go from there. I told her that if things go south, I'm out." He replied. Maria raised an eyebrow in question,

"What happened to that? In my book, this is as south as a mission goes. Two agents captured, drugged, a freak man escapes us when we had him surrounded, our leads go down the drain, we find out that the Bus has crashed and our stuff is halved. Then Natasha is missing too – So how south does south have to be, Barton?"

Clint raised and dropped a shoulder without saying anything. They resumed their search among the numerous agents that Ivana had assigned to them, although both agents would have preferred to be alone. The language barrier was only one of the issues they faced, as Clint and Maria knew minimal Russian and the amount of English-speaking agents was shockingly low.

The area they were covering was remote, an old airport that had been shut down for years after an explosion. All that was left was a tattered building with a runway that was being grown into by grass as nature reclaimed its place. It was the perfect spot for someone to hideout, someone like Lukin or even Hydra.

Just as Clint and Maria were losing hope and their patience wearing thin, shouts of Russian were heard from the old building from the agents. The few around them began running in the direction of the building as they shared a look.

"You know what they're saying?" Maria asked Clint who had _that_ much more knowledge of the Russian language than she had. It was a vain hope that he knew anything as he shook his head and they broke into a sprint to the airport building.

They arrived, agents running haywire, some barging in the opposite direction after they realised the threat. Maria shoved through the crowd to the one man who stood firmly by his discovery, a slight sweat broken out on his brow but eyes fixed on the parasitic device. Clint hung back to keep watch over the other agents but couldn't help but be curious to what had caused the disturbance.

"Uh, English?" Maria _almost_ stuttered to the Russian who turned and nodded slightly before moving and pointing to the object.

"Looks like an explosive. I would not know for sure but a countdown on a black, square device usually points in that direction." He explained. Maria ignored his attempt at humour and took a closer look at the device. Wires were plugged and disappeared into a larger box that made it clear – if this was a bomb, it wasn't a small one.

Looking at the countdown, Maria realised that there wouldn't be enough time to investigate but just enough to evacuate the agents and get to a clearance.

"Barton! We need the planes ready for flight straight away!" Maria ordered, feeling much like she was back on the S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier again. Clint worked on rounding the agents and trying to communicate the orders to them so they could get to safety.

"Hey, what's your name?" Maria questioned the agent who had discovered the explosive.

"Erik." He supplied.

"Okay, Erik, you need to help get the agents out of here, we don't speak good Russian as you can probably tell and I don't think Ivana will be happy if we get you all killed on the first search."

As Erik headed out of the airport, Maria checked the time on the countdown and felt the adrenalin spike at the 2 minutes 7 seconds shown. She raced out of the building, passing Erik who had been unbelievably slow, shouting orders to the agents to hurry. She had no idea if they understood the English words she was saying, but hearing Erik translate to some agents, she hoped it was enough to get them moving faster.

She spotted Clint in the distance and shouted to him, "Barton, one minute on the clock! Let's get moving!"

He gave a firm nod from where he stood, a breeze beginning that caused a slight movement in his hair. A breeze caused by the nearing aircraft, preparing for landing to extract the agents. Three jets landed in the clearing nearby and agents swarmed towards it for pick up.

Maria made it to where Clint stood and watched as the agents piled onto the jets, "Can you believe Ivana's agents are like this?" She raised her tone so he could hear over the sound of the jets.

"Sends you back to recruits at S.H.I.E.L.D, right?" He replied and Maria could only nod at the familiarity of the situation. The two got onto the emptiest jet and they all took off away from the old airport.

A tremor shook through the jet as a sign that the timer had reached zero. Maria blew out a breath of relief and laughed to herself for a second. It had been so long since she'd felt the adrenalin rush, sure, there'd been the odd moment with Coulson's team but when she was working alone with no back up or extraction, the danger was relentless… and addictive. It wasn't an expected trait for Maria Hill to have, that's for sure. Clint looked at Maria like she'd grown two heads, laughing at herself.

"Something funny, Hill?"

"It's just… I don't know, that was real adrenalin out there, even though I knew we could get out safely, I mean, who sets an explosive in an abandoned building? Waste of ammo if you ask me." Maria said with a puzzled expression that made Clint scoff at her ignorance.

"Come on, people knew we were going there. Those people are one step ahead of the game here, can't you see? This is also a very dangerous game and is exactly why I can't hang around for much longer."

Maria frowned at him a lowered their conversation away from any prying ears that may understand them, "But you're on the team, we have back-up-"

"I'm not on the team. I'm helping, remember? I still have my freedom and I like it thanks." Clint told Maria.

"So do we, we also get slightly more protected if people want to kill us." She retaliated.

Clint grunted, "Natasha is gone. Protected, you say?"

Maria shot Clint a look that could kill and might have, if he'd been looking, "That was not our fault. As much I said it was Coulson's decision at the start, I know Nat and she would have been so bloody annoying…"

"I know Nat too. But I won't blame her for a madman taking her away!"

"I'm not blaming her!"

"That's what it sounded like to me, Hill. Be honest with yourself."

"Barton, you're kidding me-"

"Do I sound like I'm kidding you?"

"This was your problem all along then, was it?" Maria snapped before the pilot signalled an incoming call over comms. She engaged the call, still fired up at Clint, and barked into the receiver,

"What?"

"Maria, I know you don't like me all that much at the moment but this is important." Coulson stated. Maria deflated a little and became apologetic,

"Sorry, just a misunderstanding on our part. What is it?"

Coulson audibly sighed down the line, "We had some electrical interference earlier, some feed trying to get through to us. It sounded a lot like Romanoff. Damien is working to get answers on the source."

"Natasha? She's alive?" Maria whispered through comms, spiking Clint's attention back to Maria after huffing turning away from their spat.

Not that Maria could see it, but Coulson shook his head, "Nothing is for sure. It was really bad connection. We aren't sure how she got through in the first place… we need you and Clint back here ASAP."

"Got it. Things haven't exactly worked out here anyway," Maria glanced around, "Ivana's agents are hopeless if I'm completely honest."

"Right. A debrief will be done when you get back. I've told Skye and Lance to get back here too, Damien and May landed a while ago and were there when we got the feed. Just get back safe, okay?"

"Yes, sir." Maria ended the comms call. Clint was eagerly awaiting information from Maria who seemed to be lost for words and needed some prompting.

"What did he say? Is Natasha back?"

The other agent caught her words again, "No, but she made contact. Natasha made contact. We need to get back right now."

* * *

Thanks for reading.

Good to know there is at least one interested reader still out there, thanks to isikiddo for reviewing – I'll do my best to never leave such a huge time gap! And thank you to the extra couple of followers!

Again, review if you can, leave your feedback good or bad. Not too long to go now!


	31. The DNA

Chapter 31 – The DNA

Enjoy.

* * *

Maria didn't _mean_ to crash through the doors like she did, but the possibility of hearing from Natasha put her in the careless mode. Avoiding Ivana's eye contact – or glare for almost knocking the door off – she made her way to the front of the room and stood by Coulson who was staring at the black screen on the wall, expecting something from it.

"Anything yet?" She inquired, looking to Damien. He looked up from his laptop that had all of the information that the feed had provided,

"I've been trying to track a location but it's like the feed came from nowhere. I'm hoping Skye has a better way of tracking this down."

"You don't have to wait long," Clint announced as he appeared and leant on the desk that Damien's laptop rested on, "She and Lance just landed."

Maria nodded at the information, chewing the inside of her mouth in thought. Was there a chance they could find Natasha through all of this? Could Skye get through to find the source of the feed? What if they couldn't? Did _anyone_ have answers to her questions?

"Don't think so hard," Clint muttered after taking a glance in her direction and shaking his head, "We might need your brain for something more useful."

"Oh, well it's good to know my role here is valued." She said, sarcasm changing the sentence to hold a different meaning. Clint opened his mouth to justify himself but as Skye and Lance entered, he thought against it – not worth the energy right now.

"Someone call a hacker? I'm a bit out of practice but I'll do my best," Skye spoke and she took her seat by Damien who slid the laptop so it sat in front of her instead. He watched as her fingers hit the keys with a fluidity that only an experienced typist – or hacker – could demonstrate.

"You're going to have to teach me sometime." Damien stated, Skye raising an eyebrow in question.

"What would that be?"

He gestured to her fingers flying across the keyboard, "This. So that I can actually get somewhere if you're ever not around. It'd be fun."

Skye exhaled with a laugh, "It's great to know you think I'd make a fun lesson, but I can't think of any reasons why I wouldn't be here. Did you have any in mind?"

Damien chuckled, "Of course not. It would be for desperate situations, really desperate. I hope it doesn't actually come to that, I'd miss your…craziness."

As Skye went on to argue her case that she wasn't crazy, Coulson watched with a frown. He didn't expect this to happen when he allowed Damien onto the team, he wasn't sure he was comfortable with it. After Ward, Skye had become more guarded, there was no doubt about that. Somehow, Damien was being accepted into her circle of trust and the director could only stand and watch in confusion.

"What is going on there?" He asked to anyone with an answer. It was Lance who replied, as Clint tried to hide his humour and Maria disappeared into her own head again, "Sir, I think their flirting."

"Skye's a closed book lately, there's no way…"

Lance shrugged a shoulder, "Looks like it to me anyway. Where's Bobbi by the way?" He added in realisation that his ex-wife was missing from the room. Coulson tore his eyes from Damien and Skye to look at Lance.

"She's in my office." He said, simply.

"Okay," Lance drew out, "Where is that?"

Coulson shook his head, "No. She's not having visitors at this moment. Definitely not you. Not a chance. No."

The agent put his hands up in surrender, "Okay, I'm sorry. I won't approach the topic again."

He backed out of the room and left to go down the corridor, but not before hearing Coulson call from behind, "No bribing agents to tell you where she is, Agent Hunter!"

Coulson smiled in satisfaction. Then, he refocused on the two agents sitting at the table in front of him. He stepped forwards and stood the other side of Skye.

"Any leads?" He asked while practically glaring daggers at Damien, it took Clint all the self-control he had not to start howling with laughter right there and then.

"Like I said, I'm a little rusty…" Skye trailed as she saw Coulson glaring at Damien, "Everything okay?"

"Oh, yes. At least, it will be." Coulson said, bluntly still glowering at Damien.

Skye looked sceptical, "Right, because you might burn holes into Damien if you keep looking at him like that. And, of course, he might be a little uncomfortable."

Coulson seemed to nod in consideration of Skye's point but didn't avert his eyes, "Maybe he will be."

Skye narrowed her eyes in suspicion but let the subject drop for now. Returning to look at the laptop, she continued explaining her progress, "Okay, I traced the feed like Damien did but as he was unsuccessful, I thought I'd try a different approach… a more direct approach."

She tapped a few more keys and waited, Damien and Coulson – finally moving his stare from the agent to the laptop – watched intently. After a few more seconds buffering, the screen finally opened up the results they wanted.

"What does that mean?" Damien inquired, glancing from the screen to Skye in confusion. And to be fair to the agent being questioned, she looked just as bewildered as he did.

Coulson squinted at the spiralled shapes floating about on the screen, almost like a virus had taken over. But as his eyes adjusted to the array of shapes, one thing stuck out above everything else, "Is that DNA?"

Skye, still caught off guard from her findings, replied slowly, "I was expecting a map… or co-ordinates…but not this-this is human DNA."

"So we have a person, not a place?" Damien checked. Skye nodded in reply and he blew out a breath of amazement, "That sure isn't something I've ever seen before. What do we do with that?"

The director stood straight and looked at his two agents, "I'm giving you two hours, max."

Skye looked up at him, "To do what?"

Coulson smirked, "Isn't it obvious? Find whoever it is that this DNA belongs to."

* * *

So that's it for now, things should hopefully pick up next chapter. Thanks for reading.


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